


Reasons For Living

by Michael7123



Category: The Walking Dead (Video Game)
Genre: Deviates From Canon, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-09
Updated: 2014-08-23
Packaged: 2018-02-12 11:09:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 29,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2107596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Michael7123/pseuds/Michael7123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A slight AU of season Two. What if Christa had been killed at the start of the season instead of Omid? What if there was another member of the cabin group from Clementine's past? This story will largely be the same as season two, but with different dialogue, told from multiple points of view, and major and minor changes along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

 

** Clementine: **

"Oh my God, I think this is that place I was talking about."

"Omid, what is it this time?" Christa asked in a tone that revealed she was bracing herself for a lecture. Clementine watched as Omid stood up and walked over the log he was just using as cover.

"See that sign over there?" Omid pointed to a giant sign that said "Gil's Pitstop" in the distance as he walked over to the parking lot in front of them, followed by Clementine and Christa. "Over a dozen battles during the Civil War were fought within twenty miles of that pit stop over there. We were going to visit it on our road trip before all of this started."

"Cool. What happened in those battles?" Clementine asked as the three of them walked though the abandoned parking lot. Christa let out a long sigh. Hardly a week went by when they didn't pass some significant civil war landmark that Omid would ramble on about.

"Nothing to special to be honest," Omid said, "but at one point, the Union..." he was cut off by a loud sigh from Christa, "I'll talk about it with you some other time Clem." Omid said.

The three of them reached the small building at the end of the parking lot. Chirsta glanced over at Omid and walked into the men's bathroom.

"Clem, uh... why don't you go on ahead and get cleaned up in the girls room?"

"Do you think there'll still be running water?" Clementine asked Omid, already knowing the answer.

"I doubt it. Anyways, just keep track of your things and make sure its safe first. If you need anything, we'll be right next door."

Clementine went into the old bathroom with her gun raised, in case she came across any walkers. The stench was awful, but she had grown used it it by now. Hardly anything smelled nice these days.

Clementine checked all three stalls, and was thankful she didn't find anything or anyone alive. She walked up to the sink and placed her backpack and her gun right beside it. She looked at herself in the mirror. It was cracked, smeared, and scratched, but she could still see all the dirt on her face.

She looked down at the faucet. "Please have water." She said to herself as she tried to use it. No such luck. At least she still had that bottle of water in her pack. She poured some of the water on a rag from her pack. She scrubbed off her face and looked back in the mirror. Even though she knew it didn't really matter how she looked, it felt better just to have all that dirt off her face.

She reached over for her pack, but forgot that she had placed her bottle of water right next to the sink. "Oh shoot," she said as she saw the water bottle roll into one of the stalls behind her. _I forgot to put the cap back on. Hopefully it didn't loose too much water,_ she thought to herself.

She went over to the stall farthest away from the door, and picked up the water bottle. She wasn't sure if she should use this again, considering that it had just landed on a bathroom floor. Those were dirty even before everything changed.

She was about to walk out when she looked back at the mirror. She saw someone entering the bathroom, and it wasn't Omid or Christa. She quickly closed the door to the stall she was in, and stood up on the toilet so whoever it was wouldn't be able to see her.

Looking through the crack between the door and the wall, she watched the stranger walk over to her backpack and pick up her gun. _This isn't going to end well._ She thought to herself.

The stranger must have heard her, because she walked up right in front of the stall, and pointed Clementine's gun at her through the crack. "I know you're in there. Come on out slowly."

"Who are you?" Clementine asked nervously. She figured the stranger was just another survivor who had turned to robbing people. She wouldn't be the first.

"None of you're business."

"Are you going to shoot me?"

"Only if you're stupid." The stranger said as she opened the door to the stall. Clementine walked out slowly, trying to keep herself together. Now that she had a closer look, the stranger was another girl, maybe only five years older than she was herself. "Stay over there." The stranger said, pointing to the corner of the room with the gun. She kept the gun pointed at Clementine as she rifled through her backpack.

"Is this everything? How'd you make it this long?"

"Yeah, that's all I have."

"Bullshit. You couldn't have survived all this shit with this junk."

"I don't have anything else, that's it!"

The stranger looked up at the little girl. "I'm serious, give me what you got!"

"I already told you, that's it!"

"Don't lie to me, I'll pop you!"

Clementine didn't say anything as the stranger stared at her. She felt scared. Was the stranger going to kill her if she didn't have enough to satisfy her?

"Give me dat hat!" The stranger said.

"No!" Clementine immediately responded.

"Where'd you get it?"

"My dad gave it to me." That hat was the only thing left that she had from her parents. She wasn't going to give it up while she still breathed.

"Just give it to me." The girl said. Clementine didn't respond. The stranger rolled her eyes.

"Junk, junk, junk." The stranger said as she went back to looking though the backpack. Clementine heard the door to the bathroom open slowly.

"Crap, crap, and more crap." She heard some footsteps coming from the door.

"Shit, shit, and even more shit." Clementine saw Christa walk up behind the girl, momentarily frozen at the sight of the stranger with a gun. Clementine looked at Christa, and begged her to help with her eyes.

"Why you ain't got nothing good?" Christa started to walk towards the stranger with her arm stretched out, reaching towards the gun.

"This your daddy?" The strange girl asked as she picked up a ripped photograph out of Clem's backpack. "He looks like such a bozo."

Clementine heard the bathroom door close. Christa turned to face the door for a split second. The stranger turned around and shot Chsita twice, once in the gut, and once in the chest. Christa slowly turned back to face Clementine and the stranger, and coughed. She looked down and saw the blood seeping through her shirt. She opened her mouth as if to cry out in pain, but just collapsed onto the floor.

Clementine recoiled at the sight of Christa's death. She had been taking care of her for around six months by now, and she was taken away in an instant.

The stranger looked down at the gun in her hands, horrified at what she had just done.

Omid burst through the door holding his rifle. He stared at the floor in horror.

"I didn't want to, I didn't want to!" The stranger pleaded as she raised her hand and dropped the gun. Clementine looked at Omid and was scared. She had never seen him look like this.

"I didn't want to-" she was cut of by the burst of a rifle. She clutched at her chest and fell against the wall.

Omid dropped the rifle and fell to his knees next to Christa. He picked up her lifeless body. "Christa, common. Say something! Can you hear me! Christa baby... No please..." Clementine saw Omid chocking up and sobbing.

"Chista... No God... Please... Chirsta..." Omid looked up and saw Clementine's handgun on the ground, and looked up at the girl he had been watching over for the past few months.

Clementine made eye contact with him, her own eyes welling up with tears.

Omid just knelt there weeping.


	2. In the Water

** Clementine: **

**16 Months later.**

Clementine looked over at the dying fire, watching the last embers rise from the twigs and sticks burning beneath a weasel Omid shot a few hours ago. She had been sitting next to Omid for hours. At least, that's what she thought. It wasn't easy to keep track of time.

She looked over at Omid, who was staring blankly at the fire. She was starved for any sort of conversation. "Omid, talk to me," she pleaded.

Omid stared down at the ground and sighed. He got up an walked over to the fire, and poked at it with a stick. "Clem, can you give me a hand?" He asked somberly. Clementine knelt on the other side of the fire, placed her head close to the ground, and blew on the flames, trying to breath life into the fire.

"Wood's too wet to burn." Omid said. "It's been raining so much the past few days."

Clementine got back up to take a breath of fresh air and shivered. "I'm freezing."

"It's only gonna get worse when we get to Wellington, and we've still got several months ahead of us."

"Do you think it's gonna be safer there?"

"That's what they say."

Clementine got back down on her knees and grabbed a small branch. She started poking the fire.

"I miss Lee." She said.

Omid looked up at her, his eyes filled with loss of his own. "I know Clem." He replied sadly. After a brief moment of silence, Omid threw another stick into the fire. "I'm going to look for some more wood. Keep the fire lit Clem, I'll be right back." He picked up his rifle and headed out into the woods.

Clementine walked back over to the log they were using as a makeshift bench and opened up her backpack leaning next to it. She pulled out her gun and placed it right beside her, making sure it was never out of reach. After last time, she wasn't going to let it out of sight while she was alone.

She continued going through her pack, pausing momentarily to look at the photo of Lee she had picked up at the drugstore, back when she had just met him. It was times like these when she missed him the most.

She took another pause to look at her second to the last thing she drew at the motor inn, a picture of Katjaa, Duck and Kenny.

Katjaa had always been kind to her, right from the start. She treated her almost like she was her own kid in a lot of ways.

Duck was Duck. He got on her nerves, but he was almost like a brother to her. From everything she had heard, that was part of what siblings did to each other.

Kenny didn't always get along with Lee, but he was a good man. He kept going on after loosing his family. Just like her. Omid... and Christa had told her that he died trying to save Ben's life, that he forgave him for what happened to Katjaa and Duck. She missed him.

Eventually, she found her lighter and put the drawing and photo safely inside her backpack. Clementine picked up her gun and walked back over to the fire- now mostly embers - and pulled a random piece of paper out of her pocket. She used the lighter to set it on fire, and placed it beneath a bunch of mostly unburnt twigs. The fire grew a little bit, but the flames were still too low. She got up and looked around for a log. She found found one right next to the fireplace, and dropped it right into the center of the pile.

As she was putting the lighter back in her backpack, she heard an unfamiliar voice. Whoever it belonged to, he wasn't happy. Clem held her handgun up and looked around, and didn't see anyone. She decided to carefully walk to the voice, or more accurately voices. It didn't take long for her to find three people surrounding Omid.

"There's no way you're out here alone, where's your group?" One of the strange men threatened Omid.

"I'm out here alone! I'm not bullshitting you guys!" Omid lied..

"Yeah right. Cut the shit!" Another scavenger pointed Omid's rifle right against his forehead.

Clementine took aim at the one with the rifle, and fired. She hit him right in the shoulder. She took another shot, but heard a empty click from her pistol.

"AHHHH! MOTHERFUCKER!"

"OMID RUN!" Clementine called out to Omid, who had already grabbed his rifle back and was running off into the forest. Clementine took off in another direction, hearing the several gunshots behind her.

Clementine turned around and saw a scavenger chasing after her. Ducking behind a large rock to use as cover she checked her pockets for any additional ammo. No such luck. She shoved the pistol into the back of her pants for safe keeping.

"Common kid, ain't no way you're gonna... SHIT!" The scavenger called out as Clementine continued running. She slid. Under a fallen treeand her arms made contact with a large branch.

_Just have to wait for him to get closer... now!_ She thought as she got up and swung the branch right into the scavengers face, knocking him flat more out of surprise than anything else. She kept running until she reached a cliff that lead right into a river.

"JUST GO AWAY!" She cried out as the scavenger picked her up.

"THEN STOP FUCKING KICKING!" He cried out as she kicked him. _Have it you're way._ She thought as she sank her teeth into his thumb, and heard him cry out in pain. "LET GO YOU LITTLE BITCH, FOR FUCKS SAKE!"

It didn't take long for her to get thrown to the ground. "Kid, you are on my last damn nerve! Stop struggling." He had her on her back, and he was reaching for her neck. It took all of her strength to keep him away, and he was so focused that he didn't even realize the walker lurking towards them.

But Clementine noticed, and used the last bit of her strength to kick him into the walker. She crawled away as he struggled with his new enemy, and didn't even realizing she was backing up into the cliff until she was over the edge and falling in the water.

Her swimming lessons from years ago kicked in, and she managed to get to the surface, but she was powerless against the tide.

_I just need to.._ "OH CRAP!" She cried out as she saw the boulder the river was moving her towards, and tried to swim away. All she managed to do was have her back absorb most of the impact. Everything went black.


	3. Alone

** Clementine: **

Clementine woke up to the sight of the ground pressed against her face, and the sounds of the river she was still half submerged in. Almost everything was sore, and her head felt light. She reached up to rub her forehead only to find that her cap was gone. _And the only thing I have left is that gun._ She felt the cold metal of that cursed gun - the gun that was used to kill Christa because of her own carelessness - press against her back.

"Is anyone there? Hello?" She called out, already knowing the answer. She was soaked, cold, alone, and her only weapon to speak of was an unloaded gun. She had lost every piece of her past except for that weapon, and the memories it held were ones she'd rather forget.

With nothing else to do, she got up and started walking.

_I have to find someplace warmer, or at least something to dry myself off with._ The cold was almost unbearable normally, and being soaking wet only made things worse. She saw what used to be a wooden staircase that went up to a ridge above the river bank. She pulled herself up, walked up what was left of the staircase and found a small clearing that lead right to a path in the woods. _Maybe I'll find some sort of campsite if I go this way. It's not like I have many other options._ She headed for the path.

_Of course it has to be windy._ She thought as the wind froze her skin. Even though it seemed to be the middle of the day (she didn't have a watch, and she didn't know how long she was out for), it was still winter, and still cold.

She stopped for a moment after she saw a shrub in front of her shake. She pulled out her gun. " _If its a person, maybe I can bluff them..._ " Her thoughts stopped as she stared in amazement at what was causing the noise. It was a dog. It was an actual, living dog. She hadn't seen a dog in months.

Furthermore, it had her hat in his mouth.

"Where did you get that boy?" Clementine asked as amused as possible given the current situation. She put the gun in the back of her pants again. The dog dropped the hat, but started growling.

"It's okay, boy, it's okay.." Clementine stayed put, not wanting to approach the dog, who had just stoped growling. The dog seemed to relax and started to bark. She went reached down to grab her hat and managed to get a glimpse of the dog's name, 'Sam' . "Nice to meet you Sam." Clementine said to Sam.

Sam turned around, barked a few times, and ran off. "Sam, where are you going? Wait up!" Clementine called out as she ran after her new friend.

After a brief chase, Clementine found the dog right outside an abandoned campsite. _This looks like it was set up before the plague,_ Clementine thought to herself. Sam walked into the camp and started sniffing around. Clementine walked into to the camp site and felt her stomach growl. Thanks to the scavengers last night, she hadn't had any food for a long while. "Lets look around for some food." She told Sam, who had just found a spot in the grass to lie down on.

Clem walked over to a rusted van that haven't been used in years. There were a couple of old boxes, with a various pieces of junk. Her eyes caught sight of a photograph, and she looked at for a moment. It showed a family of three along with Sam. _They must have been a happy family once._ She wondered what happened to them, then tossed the picture away when she reached the obvious conclusion.

She turned around in time to see Sam jump up and start growling. "Shhhhh. Sam, we can't attract any walkers." She told Sam, who ran around to the far side of a tree and just stood there, growling. Clem walked over and saw a walker strapped to the tree trunk. She recognized it as the man in the photo. _I_ _guess I know what happened to him at least._ At the very least, she knew it was one of the early walkers. She'd grown used to judging how far into the outbreak a walker was created, she'd gotten lots of useful supplies from more recent ones who had survival equipment on them when they died. Sam continued barking at the walker.

"It's okay Sam, he can't hurt us." She knelt next to the walker, but out of his reach "Looks like he got bit and he tried to cut out the bite." She looked at a knife that was implanted into his right arm. "But that doesn't work. Ever."

"I wonder why he wasn't killed after he turned." Clementine wondered aloud and immediately wished she hadn't. She knew the answer to that question all too well.

* * *

_Clementine swung the bat down on the security officer's skull for the sixth time, and saw that it had stopped moving. She was breathing heavily, felt exhausted, but she had won. "I did it. I got him!" She looked over to Lee, who had a faint smile on his face._

_"You can take care of yourself, see?"_

_"No, not all the time."_

_"Yeah, you can. Don't worry."_

_Clementine walked over the pillar that had pinned the walker to the floor, knelt down, and picked up the gun. It looked like it was in perfect condition, and had a full clip of ammo. Turning around, she walked over to Lee and knelt in front of him, slightly off to his right side. She saw the cuffs that she had put Lee in moments ago._

_"You're strong Clem. You... you can do anything. " Lee was struggling to stay conscious, and even the act of speaking was exhausting._

_"But I'm so little." Clementine managed to speak through her swelling throat._

_"Doesn't mean 'nothin. You're gonna see bad stuff, but... you're gonna be okay."_

_"My parents," Clementine couldn't hold bad the tears anymore, "its so horrible."_

_"I can't even imagine Clem."_

_"And now... you too? PLEASE. Please don't be one of them. Please don't become a walker." Clementine begged._

_"There's only one thing you can do Clem. You know that."_

_"I don't know if I can..." Clementine wept._

_"You have to leave me Clem... it's okay."_

_Clementine looked up at him, surprised, "You'll.. you'll be just like them!"_

_"It's okay. It won't be me."_

_"Maybe ... maybe I shouldn't let you turn..." Clementine shuddered at the thought of shooting her guardian, the man who had been keeping her alive for all these months._

_"I don't want you to have to do that Clem. Taking a life... it changes you. I don't want you ever getting used to it. Remember when we first meet, while we were at the drug store?"_

_"Yeah, I remember."_

_"When I went out to rescue that boy Glenn, we met a girl. She'd been bitten, and all she wanted was to not come back as a walker. I couldn't bring myself to give her the gun, I didn't want to see death then. I know you've seen so much of it, but you shouldn't have to see it now."_

_"I'll go... I'll leave you... I'll go as fast as I can." Clementine managed to get out between sobs._

* * *

Clementine swung the branch into the walker's skull for the forth time, and forced herself to focus on what was happening at that moment. She heard Sam stop growling.

"See Sam? We just have to stay out of their reach." The dog barked in response.

Relief washed over Clementine as she pulled the knife out of the dead walker's arm, glad that she had some sort of viable weapon. Rubbing the blood off the blade onto her pants, she could tell it was still fairly sharp. She quickly checked the walker's pockets, but found nothing of value.

_Now all we need is some food..._ She looked over at a trash can. She sighed, and walked over to it, rolling her sleeves up on the way. Reaching inside, Clem felt the weight of a filled can.

" _Can it actually be.._ Clementine pulled up an unopened can of baked beans. "Oh my God, thank you!" Turning to face her new companion, she held up the can like a trophy, "Look Sam, a can!" The dog started panting. "Follow me boy." She called as she walked over to a log that would work as a makeshift bench. Sitting down, she held the can above her lap. "Please don't be spoiled." She hoped aloud. After opening the lid, she saw that the beans inside were still edible.

She was about to eat a second handful when she heard Sam whimper and give her a look like he hadn't eaten in days. Clem remembered how whenever she went over to her neighbor's house for dinner, she always wound up giving their dog a piece of her dinner because he looked so sad. This dog definitely needed something to eat.

"You're hungry too, aren't you?" Clementine asked Sam, who responded with a bark. Clementine held out her hand for the dog to eat out of. Sam leaned forward, than managed to knock the can of beans to the ground, and licked inside. Clem grabbed the can from the ground.

"Hey, don't eat it all Sam!" Sam growled at her, and lunged forward at her left arm, sinking his teeth into her exposed skin. He pulled her off the log, let go of her for a moment, then lunged at her again while she was on her back.

Clementine's right arm flailed around her, searching for her knife. By a stroke of luck, she managed to find it, wrapped her fingers around the handle, and plunged it into Sam's snout. Sam whined in pain and jumped back, and growled at Clementine. After a few seconds, it lunged back at Clem, who kicked him back over a log.

Sam cried out in pain as Clementine crawled backwards and held up her bloody knife. Now that she was done fighting, she felt her left arm explode in pain. She got up and walked towards the dog, with the knife in her right hand.

Sam was whimpering loudly. _Serves him right.._. Her thoughts where cut short as she saw the dog empaled on two tent posts.  _God..._ She thought to herself. She felt nothing but pity for this poor creature.

She knelt down next to it, and placed her knife next to Sam's throat. "I'm... I'm sorry Sam." She closed her eyes, pulled the knife up, and listened to Sam's dying moans. Standing up, she looked ahead at the path as to not look back down at the dog. She pulled her left sleeve down in an attempt to stop the bleeding slightly. She held her right elbow with her left hand, keeping the massive wound facing upwards.

With no other options, she started walking again.


	4. Fallen

** Clementine: **

Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned to hours. Walking through the forest, Clementine looked for any signs of fallen civilization, and found nothing. No sign of an old town, no buildings, no roads. Just forest as far as the eye could see in every direction.

This was the longest time she had ever been alone. And last time.. _No, don't think about Lee right now,_ she thought to herself, which only made it worse.

She remembered Lee, who she had ran away from, causing him to get bitten, and repaid his kindness to her by leaving him to turn.

She remembered her parents, who she so desperately wanted to be alive that she betrayed Lee to find them. Looking back on it, she wasn't sure if it was better that she knew they where decaying husks of there former selves, or if it would have been better if she had never found out for sure.

Clementine remembered Christa, who died because of her own stupid mistake.

She remebered Omid, who had still treated her like family even after she caused Christa's death.

At least she had done the best she could to save him. She hoped she was still alive. If anyone in this world deserved it, he did.

With blood seeping out of the open wound on her arm, all of her past guilts crushing her, and her vision blurry from tears she didn't even realize she was shedding she collapsed next to a boulder out of sheer exhaustion

 _Have to stay awake._ Clementine thought to herself. She scanned the area, and sure enough, she noticed a walker coming right after her.

 _Just keep walking._ Using every ounce of her strength, she tried to move faster than the walker, but her legs felt like they were made of lead. It was a matter of seconds before the walker tackled her.

The weight of the walker crushed her, and her left arm felt like it was on fire. Just as the last of her strength left her, she felt blood splatter all over her face. Looking over to her side, she saw the walker's lifeless head on the ground.

 _What the ..._ She looked up and saw a young man grab the walker corpse by the collar of its jacket. She was going to warn him about the walker behind him when a bolt entered its left eye socket, killing it instantly. Looking the other way, she saw an older man shooting a crossbow at another walker.

"I'm almost out! Grab the kid, lets go!" He called out to his companion.

"Common kiddo, we gotta move!" Clementine felt herself get picked up by the young man, who started running after the old man.

Clementine saw walkers surrounding her on every side. She didn't know why she had just been spared a slow, painful death, but she knew that these two strangers had just saved her life.

After about a minute the two men stopped running.

"I think... I think we lost them." Said the older man, clearing taking a while to catch his breath. The man carrying a Clementine turned around, and gave a quick scan of the area.

"Yeah... I think we're good now." He turned to face the older man than looked down at Clementine. "Hey, you alright kid?"

"I... I think so.." Clementine responded weakly. The man holding her started walking, followed by the older man.

"So, what are you doing out here all alone?"

"Do you have any people that you're with? You couldn't have made it this long on your own."

 _Probably best not to tell them that we were attacked._ She thought. _Just in case they're working with them._ "I'm alone. Everyone I know is gone. It's just me now."

The man carrying her looked down, "I'm sorry to hear that."

The older man commented, "My sister passed away recently. We've all had our fair share of loss."

After a moment of silence, the younger man spoke again, "Well, the man over there is Pete, and I'm Luke."

"Hi. I'm Clementine."

"It's nice to meet you Clementine. For now, we're gonna bring you back to our group. We've got a doctor with us, and you could probably use some -OH FUCK!" He cried out as he dropped Clementine to the ground. She felt a sharp pain in her back from landing right on top of her gun.

"What? What's the matter?"

"She's... She's been bit man! Shit... shit,shit, shit what are we gonna do here?"

"No, it was a dog! Just look at it please!"

"Yeah, so you can go on and sink your teeth into Pete's neck, no way!"

"My neck? Why me?"

"Cause I don't know the difference between a dog bite or a gator bite or a lurker bite!"

"It wasn't one of them!" Clem pleaded.

Pete stood still for a moment. "Hmm. Alright. Lets take a look."

"Woah, be careful."

Clem couldn't help but glare at Luke. "Don't look at me like that kid! I'm not the one who's bit here, okay?"

Clem held up her arm and cringed as Pete pulled back the sleeve over the bite.

"So, Pete, she tellin' the truth?" Luke asked.

"Its hard to tell. It could be." Pete replied. He turned to face Clementine and asked, "So where did this dog go?"

"I... I had to kill it." Clementine responded, not wanting to think about that any more than she had to.

"What? Really! The last dog in North Carolina comes up, bites you, and you just go off and kill it?!"

"I kicked it on to some tent posts, I had to put it out of its misery!" Clementine protested.

"Still! You just don't kill dogs. _"_

 _You don't need to tell me that,_ Clementine thought to herself sadly.

"Clementine?" Pete stared at her.

"Yes?"

"You tellin' us the truth?"

"Yes."

"Well, then, that's good enough for me."

"Common, Pete. What did ya expect her to say?"

"I've got a good bullshit detector Luke. That's why I always beat you in poker."

"You're sayin' that after last night... Look, how can you be sure?"

"I can't. But I know for damn sure that I ain't about to leave a kid in the woods to die when Carlos can make a call."

"Okay, fair enough. I don't want to leave her here either, but Nick's gonna be pisssed. Considerin' what just happened to -"

"I don't need to be reminded of that boy." Pete cut Luke off.

"Right. Sorry sir."

Pete patted Luke on the shoulder than looked over to Clementine. "Come on kid."

Clementine got up and slowly followed them to the top of the hill. In the distance she could see a cabin surrounded by a small, makeshift fence.

Her vision was blurring quickly. Every step hurt.

"Clementine, are you feeling alright?" Pete asked.

"I'm fine. Just... tired. "

"Good. I ain't gonna carry you anymore 'till Carlos makes a call on your arm." Luke said.

"You don't need to worry about..." Clementine felt her eyelids fall, and felt her legs give out.

"Sonovabitch..." Luke called out as he ran after Clem.

* * *

"Don't you say ... just fuckin' happened."

"Would one of you kindly tell me what the fuck is going on."

"Calm down Rebecca, we're alright here."

 _That voice..._ Clementine felt a rush of panic overcome her as she opened her eyes and saw several people standing around her, along with the barrel of a gun right in her face. One of them sounded familiar.

"The hell we are! Did any of you even think about asking were she came from? For all we know she could be connected to Carver!"

Clementine opened her eyes and saw Pete, three strangers, and a vaguely familiar face.

"She told me and Luke that she was out here alone, and she got bitten by a dog." Pete explained.

"And you just took her word for it? You should have killed her right there! Dog bite my ass."

Clementine wiped her eyes to clear her vision, than looked at her worst nightmare. She got up as fast as she could, and ran.

"HEY!" One of the men behind her called out as she heard a gunshot and a bullet fly past her. As much as she had to get away from these people, there was no way out. She recognized what type of fence was surrounding this cabin.

It was a hand made electric fence.

She turned around, placed her hands on the back of her head, and slowly walked back towards her saviors turned captors.

"You're lucky my nephew, Nick, can't shoot for shit." Pete said roughly as he yanked the rifle out of a younger man's hands. There were five people standing outside, but Clementine couldn't help but stare at Andrew St. John. All of this time, she was certain that he had been eaten alive after she left the dairy farm.

* * *

_Clementine watched as Carley walked up to Lee, who had swung down and punched Andrew's face one last time._

_"Lee! Enough!"_

_Lee lifted his left arm in the air one more time about to strike, but stopped. He got up and walked back towards the group, who was standing right inside the main gate to the farm._

_Clementine felt relief that all of this was over, that she could finally be free of this nightmare._

_"Is that all you got Lee? You... You ain't shit!" Andrew, who was on his back in a puddle of mud, managed to shout out between coughs of blood. Clementine could see him illuminated by lightning flashes._

_"ITS OVER!" Lee turned around and shouted at Andrew, who was slowly standing up!_

_"GO FUCK YOURSELF! Once Momma and Danny get out here, all ya' are FUCKED!" Andy shouted, followed by the mix of a laugh and a cough._

_"They're both dead!"_

_Andrew's eyes widened at the revelation. "What did you do... WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO!?"_

_He had lost every thing he had to live for._

_Lee stared at the ground away from Andy. There was a moment of brief and minute pity. However little he deserved the title, he was still a person. Lee turned around, and walked back towards his group. Back to her._

_"DON'T YOU DARE WALK AWAY FROM ME LEE!" Andrew pointed over to Lee. Lee turned around and saw Andy fall to his knees._

_"COME BACK HERE AND FINISH THIS LEE!"_

_Clementine watched as Lee turned back to the rest of them, and walked away from Andy. Clementine ran up to Lee, who got down and gave her a hug. Clem noticed the generator smoke up, and the lightbulbs on the electric fence burn out. Walkers started knocking over the fence_

_"They're getting in!" She called out to Lee and the rest of her group. Lee got up, and walked past her._

_"Come on everyone. Lets go."_

_"Leeeee..." Clementine heard Andrew whimper as she ran after Lee. As they left the dairy farm she heard around half a dozen rifle shots coming from behind her._

* * *

"Woah, woah, what the fuck!" Clementine saw Luke burst through the cabin front door in response to the gunshot.

"You idiot! Every lurker for miles must have heard that!" The woman named Rebecca said.

"You're the one tellin' me to shoot her."

"Everyone just calm down for a moment." Another man said.

"Clementine, you alright?" Luke asked her.

"She tried to run man!" The young man told Luke.

"Well, Nick, can ya blame her?" He said to the man who had just shot at her. "Don't worry Clem, Carlos is commin' right here, he'll take a look." He turned back to face the rest of his group. "Now, what the hell is wrong with all of you? She's just a scared kid!"

"And we shouldn't be scared Luke? Don't act like we're the crazy ones for not believing her bullshit story." Rebecca replied harshly.

"You really think she's made it out here on her own for so long? Why the fuck are we even having this conversation!?" Nick told Luke.

 _Maybe they aren't cannibals..._ Clementine thought to herself as a Hispanic man walked up to her.

"I'll take a look." He stood right in front of Clementine and held out his arm.

 _But that doesn't mean I can trust any of them._ She finished her thought as she rolled up her sleeve and showed the bite to the doctor.

"Damn, that must have hurt." One of the men said.

The doctor, Carlos, knelt down and grabbed her arm and she felt pain spring up around the wound. "Hmm... Dog or not, it got you good."

Nick paced for a moment before facing the rest of the group. "Come on guys, this ain't how we do things. If you're bit, you get put down. End of story. I'm not gonna go through this again!"

"Nobody's sayin' that." Luke replied.

"Well, maybe we could try takin' her arm off." Andrew suggested. Clementine gasped in horror as everyone turned to face Andrew.

"Pete, didn't you say that worked for a cousin of yours? If it was a lurker, maybe it'll save the kid's life."

"For fucks sake Andrew, are you crazy? You'll just be making her death even more painful." Rebecca said.

"Whose gonna even volunteer to do that?"

Clementine noticed Luke look over to her, and she decided to get his attention. "Look, I'm not a threat to you guys or anything! If you guys aren't going to help me, then just let me go."

"Calm down kid, we're on the same side here." Luke replied.

Clementine saw the front door to the cabin open up, and a girl looked out. "Who's she?" The girl asked.

Carlos got up and turned back to the cabin. "What did I say Sarah. Stay inside." Clementine saw Sarah look down and close the door to the cabin.

The doctor kelt back down and continued to examine her arm. Luke spoke to the entire group, "Look, I know most of you disagree with me on this, and I've got no proof, but my gut says she's telling the truth. It's probably just a dog bite."

Carlos got up and faced the rest of the group. "So, was it a lurker, or not?" Nick asked.

"It's not a clean bite. The teeth marks are to ragged to make out. There's only one way we can find out."

"How?" Pete asked.

"We wait."

"Are you serious!" Rebecca exclaimed.

"By tomorrow morning, we'll know if she's gonna turn. For now, we'll lock her in the shed."

"But my arm's gonna get infected! It needs to be stitched up, and cleaned!"

"We've got some medical supplies in the cabin. We can afford to spare-"

"Alvin, please." Rebecca said.

"... but yeah. We can't do nothin'." Alvin said.

"We can't risk wasting supplies on a lurker bite. If you're telling the truth, I'll fix it up myself in the morning."

"But..." Clementine pleaded as Carlos turned and walked away.

"I'm sorry kid. It's the best we're gonna get." Luke said to her.

Nick walked over to Pete, who was holding his rifle.

"Finger off the trigger son."

"I ain't your son!"

"Don't be like that Nick." Luke said.

"Its fine. Boy's got his mom's temper."

Nick turned to face Clementine. "Come on."

"This is just a waste of time, you'll see. I ain't gonna be the one cleaning up the shed when she turns." Clementine heard Rebecca say as she walked to the shed."

"Jeez Rebecca, don't sound so enthusiastic about it." Andy said.

Luke walked towards the shed next to Clementine. "Look, just let me go. Please." Clementine begged.

"I wish I could, I really do, but we can't risk it. I'm sorry."

Luke opened the shed door, and looked at Clementine sadly. She felt the cold barrel of Nick's rifle press against her back. "Get in kid." He said coldly.

 _Thanks for all the help,_ she thought coldly. She turned around and saw Luke closing the door to the shed, locking her inside.


	5. Starved for Help

** Clementine: **

"Why are we even doing this? It's just fucking stupid, plain and simple." Clementine heard Nick say.

"Because its safer this way, and its best to be sure." Luke replied.

"Yeah, safer for who?"

"This is crazy." Clementine said to herself, in an effort to calm herself down. "I just need to get out, I just need to get out." There was no point in wondering how Andrew was alive, and in North Carolina of all places. All that mattered now was getting out of this shed.

 _Just look for exposed screws, loose boards._ She thought has her mind unwillingly flashed back to the meat locker.

* * *

_"Don't try anything stupid, or you're gonna fuckin' regret it." Andrew St. John said to the group as he closed and locked the door to the meat locker. Larry threw himself against the door and started pounding on it._

_"OPEN UP YOU SONS OF BITCHES!" He shouted. Lilly was in the corner, puking her guts out, and Kenny was frantically looking for anyway out so he could find his family. Lee had been carried by Kenny and Larry into the meat locker, and was just starting to regain consciousness._

_"Lee!" Clementine ran over and knelt next to Lee. "It was a person, they tried to make me eat a person!"_

_"But you didn't do it, right Clem?"_

_"Yeah. You stopped me."_

_"The rest of us weren't so luck goddamnit! If you had moved your ass-_

_"DAD! Now is not the time!" Lilly shouted at her dad, who just turned back to pounding on the door._

_"They've got Katjaa and Duck Lee! Those sons of bitches have my family, and we're stuck in a mother fucking meat locker!"_

_"I know Kenny. We're gonna find a way out of here and get them back." Lee said as he got up._

_"What can I do to help?" Clementine asked._

_"Look for any exposed screws or panels. Don't be sacred. We will find a way out of here Clem, don't give up!"_

* * *

Clementine felt the shelf give under her weight, and tried to pull back as she collapsed on to the floor, landing right on her left arm.

"AGGHHHH." Clementine felt a burst of pain through the now infected dog bite. _This is going to kill me unless I get it disinfected soon_. Clementine thought to herself as she picked up the fallen shelf and revealed the hammer. _This should get that board off._ She thought as she walked over to the back of the shed and used the tool to pry off the loose board. She put the hammer on the work bench. She didn't think she needed it, and she could use her pocketknife as a weapon, if worse came to worse.

 _Please be weak..._ Clementine thought as she kicked away the boards and opened a small hole that could take her outside shed. She smiled as she crawled through the exit.

 _Great. More rain._ She thought to herself as she felt the cold water soak into her shirt. She sighed as she looked around and saw the fence around the cabin. She knew that as much as she wanted to get away from Andy, she needed to fix up her arm. And as much as she hated the concept of stealing from anyone, she knew she had no choice. _One of them said that they had all the stuff I needed in the cabin,_ She remembered. She already had some fishing wire that could work for thread. All she needed was some disinfectant, some bandages, and a needle.

She turned back away from the cabin just in time to see a walker fry itself on the electric fence. She turned back and snuck towards the cabin, which actually had working lights thanks to whatever generators Andy managed to get working.

As she was sneaking up to the cabin, she heard an argument between Rebecca and Alvin.

"Do you know how it makes me feel when we aren't on the same page?" The woman asked.

"We are on the same page!"

"Not out there we weren't. I saw you get soft?"

"Jesus Bec! What do you want me to do, put a bullet in her?"

"I want you to think about our family first!"

"That's all I think about. So don't give me any shit, okay?"

Rebecca sighted and replied, "Whatever." Clementine heard a door open and slam shut,

At this point, Clementine was hiding next to the steps that lead up to the front porch. _Maybe he'll help me. He seemed decent enough outside._

She snuck up to the window and tapped on the glass. Alvin looked up and saw Clementine standing by the window, looked at the door to make sure it was closed, then opened the window.

"What the hell are you doing out here?" He asked harshly.

"I need your help. I need to fix my arm. Please."

"Are you crazy? Even if that bite of yours ain't from a lurker - which it probably is- you can't be here! You've got to get out of here before my wife or anyone else finds you. Go back into that shed and Carlos will take care of you in the morning."

"So that's it then? You're just going to let me die?" Clementine responded, knowing that she probably wasn't exaggerating.

Alvin looked down at the ground for a moment before replying, "Look, I'm sorry, but it's not my call, we're a group."

"But you can help. And if you don't help, isn't that the same as killing me?" Clementine pleaded.

"Look kid, I've got enough problems with Rebecca, I can't afford to- " Clementine noticed the door to Alvin's room open and quickly darted away from the window. With her back to the cabin wall, she tried to remain as quiet as possible, barely even breathing.

"Alvin, Carlos wants a house meeting, pronto." Clementine reached for her gun in the back of her pants out of instinct upon hearing the distinct sound of Andrew's voice. She was lucky they hadn't noticed it on her, and she was happy to keep it that way. Even though it didn't have any ammo, if worse came to worse, she could use it to bluff.

"Sure thing Andrew." Clementine heard two steps of footsteps leave the room and the door close. _Could it be..._ Clementine looked back at the window. _He must have forgotten to close it_ , she thought to herself as she put the gun back into her pants. She climbed in through the open window, and was inside the cabin.

* * *

The first thing Clementine felt was warmth. The feeling of being inside a house with any sort of heating was one she hadn't felt in years, but this was no time to relax. Her life was at stake.

She looked around Alvin and Rebecca's room for any supplies, and noticed a picture on the wall, and wished she hadn't.

"Duck..." She sighed, remembering the silly little boy that was one of the few children she had seen since everything started. She was older than he was when he died now.

Clementine forced herself to cut off that train of thought and left the room. She could hear a conversation in the adjacent room.

 _That's probably the group meeting Andy mentioned_. She needed to know what they were planning to do with her. Sneaking over to the door, she tried to make out the conversation.

"So let me get this fucking strait Luke:" Nick said, "this random girl shows up out of nowhere, gets surrounded by lurkers, is almost eaten alive, and you think it was a dog bite?!"

"Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but for whatever reason, I think she's telling the truth. Look, Carlos, you said it yourself she could die if she doesn't get the arm disinfected. There has to be something we can give her, just to hold her over 'till the morning."

"We've got some stuff, but not enough to spare on what might be a lurker bite." Carlos said.

"Even if she is telling the truth -which she ain't- we shouldn't be wasting anything on her." Rebecca replied coldly. "Besides, what if she's working with Carver?"

"Rebecca, if he knew we were here, do you think he would just be sending an unarmed kid- without any sort of supplies- to track us down? " Andy said.

 _He must not recognize me._ Clementine thought to herself and almost sighed out loud with relief. _And they -probably- aren't going to kill me._ She walked away from the door, and looked around the living room for anything she needed. _No such luck_. She thought to herself.

Heading towards the staircase, she stopped for a brief moment to warm herself by the wood burning stove they were using to heat up the house. Then, she walked up the stairs. There were three doors, she looked down the hallway and entered the door farthest away from the staircase.

It was another bedroom. There was some sort of board game out on a table, that Clementine couldn't recognize. _Maybe they have some rags in here?_ She thought to herself as she checked the wardrobe which was locked. Clementine pulled the knife out of her pocket to try to lift whatever latch was keeping it closed, but wound up breaking the knife in the process. She opened it up, and her eyes fixated on some rags. _Now just to find a needle and disinfectant._ She thought as she grabbed the rags.

About to exit the room, Clementine noticed something reflect of one of the candles in the room. She looked over at a desk with an open drawer, and saw a gold watch just lying there in the open. Clementine left the room without it, " _I've got no use for it anyways._

She walked down the hallway into the door on her left and entered a small bathroom. She checked behind a small medicine cabinet, and while she didn't find any medicine, she did find a needle. _It'll work, but that's really thick..._ She thought to herself as she slid the needle into her pocket. " _Just need to find some medicine now_ she thought as she walked to the door.

"That man sometimes, I swear..." She heard Rebecca mumbling. Adrenalin started pumping thought her as she went into the shower and hid behind the curtains.

Clementine shook out of anxiety as she felt as she heard the door open. If she was caught by her, the best she could hope for is to bluff her into thinking she had a loaded gun.

Clementine pulled the gun out of the back of her pants as Rebecca went to the sink and turned on the tap.

"I just need to have this baby and... Oh God..." She muttered to herself as she took a sip of water. "Just let it be his, please." She took a deep breath and walked out of the room.

 _Let it be his..._ Clementine felt pity for Alvin, who seemed like he would make a good father. _Well, that might be useful to know._ She thought as she stepped out of the shower, put the gun back in her pants, and exited the bathroom carefully.

 _Maybe I can find some disinfectant in here._ She thought to herself as she opened the final door upstairs only to reveal Sarah sitting on a bead reading a book. The two of them both gasped simultaneously.

"Shhhhh." Clementine put a finger to her lips and hoped that the other girl would understand.

"You're not allowed to be in here." Sarah said.

Clementine walked through the door. "Hi. Can you please help me?"

"I'm not supposed to be with you. My dad can't know."

"I won't tell him, I promise. I just need help. Please." Clementine begged.

Sarah looked down on the blood on her arm. "What happened to your arm?"

"A dog bit it."

"I bet it's painful."

"Yeah, and I could die if I don't have something to disinfect it."

"Okay, I'll help you. I know where my dad keeps supplies."

"Thank you so much. I won't forget this, I promise."

"So we're best friends, right? I haven't met another girl my age since before all of this started."

 _Huh? The same age..._ "Yes, we can be friends..."

"Promise? It means a lot. We have to trust each other, no matter what."

"... I promise." Clementine said. She fled indebted to this girl for getting her peroxide, but she seemed to be living in a different world.

"Me too. Friends." Sarah said as she stuck out her pinky finger.

 _Seriously!?_ Clementine thought as she looked up at Sarah with a blank face. _Apparently so._ She thought as she walked up and wrapped her pinky around Sarah's.

"A pinky swear is forever." Clementine got the sense that there was something wrong with Sarah. "I'll get the stuff my dad uses when I get hurt. Give me a few seconds." Sarah walked over to the corner of her room and picked up a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and handed it to Clementine.

"That'll do the job." Clementine said as she grabbed the bottle of peroxide.

"Don't do it here! Someone else will find you!"

"Don't worry, I won't. Thanks Sarah." Clementine said as she walked out of Sarah's room and headed down the stairs.

As Clementine walked back into Alvin and Rebecca's room, she could hear a heated argument going on. She climbed out of the window, closed it, and saw the shed illuminated by a flash of lightning. With supplies in hand, she ran back to the shed in the dark and in the rain.

* * *

Clementine crawled back into the shed and noticed one major flaw in her plan: she couldn't see anything inside of it. It was hard enough to see outside with the overcast sky and poring rain, but the darkness was almost palpable inside the shed.

Clementine just stood leaning against the workbench when lightning struck, lighting up the entire cabin for just a few moments. Using whatever she could remembered, she placed the supplies she had gathered on the workbench, and placed her left arm on the table with the wound facing up.

Lightning flashed, and Clementine saw her wound in all its glory.

"This is gonna suck," Clementine said to herself. Reaching for the peroxide, she unscrewed the cap and lifted up the bottle, waiting for the next lightning strike. "Come on, come on..." Lighting flashed, and Clementine doused her wound with the peroxide. Her arm exploded in pain, and she couldn't help but drop the bottle of peroxide onto the floor, spilling its contents. She couldn't even see the floor now, so she focused on trying to find the needle.

 _Why'd it have to be so thick..._ she thought as she threaded the needle durning the next lightning strike. "Now, just like how Omid showed me..." She said aloud, trying to calm her fried nerves. She placed the needle right next to her skin. "Hurry up already!" As if to respond to her, the room exploded with light, and she jammed the needle into her arm.

She screamed in pain as she let go of the needle, leaving it exposed in her flesh. Trying to keep her composure, she slammed her right fist onto the work bench, accidentally hitting the hammer she had left there half an hour a go. Unable to bare the pain, she grabbed the needle and pulled it through her arm. The pain receded, but not by much.

Clementine stood there waiting for the next lightning strike. _If Lee could loose an arm-_ lightning struck again, and Clementine rammed the needle into her arm a second time. Unable to wait for the lightning strike, she pulled the needle all the way through. - _then I can live through this._

Clementine felt tears start to fall from her face, _This is no time to cry, come on!_ The room flooded with light as her arm filled with pain. Darkness returned, and she blindly grabbed the needle and yanked it through her arm.

 _Just one more. I can do this._ Lightning struck again, and Clementine jamed the needle strait into her arm, not through the cut. She pulled the needle out for a final time, jammed it straight through the cut, and pulled it all the way through.

She wasn't quite sure how, but somehow she managed to tie off the stitches. Lightning flashed again, and Clementine saw her wound fully stitched up. _Good enough._ She grabbed the rags but dropped them on the floor. As the lightning flashed, she saw that she wasn't the only one looking for something in the shed. _Where did I put that hammer?!_ A walker had grabbed ahold of her ankle as she scrambled blindly to find the hammer she had placed on the work bench.

Clementine fell to the ground as a flash of lightning revealed the walker fully break into the shed. Clementine felt the walker climb on top of her, and it took all of her remaining strength to kick the walker back.

Clementine saw a rake in a brief moment of light, picked it up, and shoved it right against the walkers collar bone. It wasn't to difficult for her to knock it over again, even in the dark.

 _And there's the hammer._ Clementine thought as a flash of lightning revealed both her weapon and the walker, who was now empaled on an anchor that had fallen from the shed wall. She grabbed the hammer, walked up to the walker, and snuck the sharp end right into its skull.

And again.

And again.

And agin.

Clementine's heavy breathing filled the shed, as the walker's movements stopped. She shouted in triumph as she yanked the hammer back out of the walkers skull.

Clementine heard a creaking noise, and was blinded by a flash of white light. She blocked her eyes with her arms

"Holy shit..." Luke said.

Clementine could barely make out Luke's figure from behind the bright flashlight he held in his left hand. His sword was in his right hand.

"How the hell did it get in here through the fence?" Someone said. It was so dark outside, she couldn't even make out anyone else.

"How'd she manage to even kill it?"

"I'm still. NOT. Bitten." Clementine said between breaths. " I was hurt, and need help, and you left me in here to die!"

There was a moment of silence before Luke started talking." You stitched yourself up?"

"Where'd you get that stuff?"

"Did she steal from us?" Rebecca said.

"So what if she did? We agreed that we were going to give her some stuff in the morning anyways!" Pete said.

"I did, and I'm sorry, I really am." Clementine said. She hated doing it, but it was a choice between steeling the supplies or death.

"And you think we should trust her?" Rebecca said.

"Dammit don't even start! Any one of us would have done the same thing if we had half the guts of this little kid, so just quit it." Pete replied.

"Look, just bring her, in, and I'll take a look at her arm." Carlos said. Clementine heard everyone walking back towards the cabin. Luke stepped to side and gave Clementine a clear path out of the shed.

"You hungry kid?" He asked.

 _Not if Andy's cooking._ Clementine thought as she continued walking in silence, with Luke following right behind her.


	6. Dinnertime

**Reasons for Living Chapter 5: Dinnertime**

** Clementine: **

Clementine sat down on the couch next to the stove in the living room as Carlos finished warping up her arm. Nick leaned next against the wall with his rifle leaning up against the wall, while Luke was passing around the room.

It almost reminded her of before, in a strange way. Siting on a couch inside of a house, feeling warm, not having to worry about if she was going to get attacked at any second. Luke had brought her a blanket earlier that she had wrapped around herself in an attempt to stay warm.

"So, doc, how she look?" Luke asked as he saw Carlos stand up.

"Her suturing skills leave something to be desired, but other than that, she's gonna be fine." Carlos responded.

"So, it wasn't a lurker bite?"

"If it was, her temperature would probably be through the roof that now, and she wouldn't have had the strength to kill the lurker that got into the shed."

Clementine saw Nick close his eyes and storm out of the room, followed by Luke. Carlos got up and walked over to the window, and stared out of it.

"I wish you wouldn't have done what you did." He said.

"I already said I was sorry for stealing from you." Clementine replied.

"That's not what I'm talking about."

"Then what do you mean?"

"You manipulated my daughter."

"All I did was ask for her help." _Why would Sarah tell him?_

"You can't just ask her for help." Carlos said, still staining out the window. "If you aren't leaving first thing tomorrow, there are a few things you need to know about my daughter."

"Okay..."

"She's not like you. You may not get that at first, but if you stay with her long enough, you'll understand. If she knew how bad the world really is, how awful it is out there, she would... cease to function. She's my daughter. She's the only person I have left, and I would ask that you keep your distance from her."

 _That explains why she was acting so weird._ "I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"Its okay, you're forgiven. Just don't make any other mistakes." Carlos said as he walked up the stairs to the second floor. She watched him walk up, and heard a door open behind her.

"Hey, uh.., I got some food if you're hungry." Clementine turned around and saw Luke right in front of the door to the kitchen. Luke walked over to the couch in front of her, sat down, and placed a bowl of oatmeal in front of her along with a spoon. Clementine smiled as she started eating her first full meal in a while.

"That's gonna leave one helluva scar." Luke said, referencing her bandaged arm.

"Well, it's not that bad." Clementine replied.

"That's the spirt. You could have a stump right now ya know."

Clementine stopped eating for a moment. Luke realized he hit a cord and asked, "What?"

"I just had a good friend who lost an arm. That's all." Clementine replied. Luke opened his mouth to reply when they both heard a door open. Clementine turned around to see Nick standing outside the door to the kitchen. She glared at him for a moment and went back to eating.

She heard Nick walk up behind her. "Hey, look...I just wanted to tell you...I'm sorry for being... well for being an asshole to you out there.." Nick said as he scratched the back of his head. "I just freaked out, and that was definitely not cool."

"Nick's been known to go off every now and then. Don't take it personally." Luke explained.

 _He probably wouldn't have shot at me if I hadn't got up and run_. "You were just trying to protect your friends. I understand." Clementine said.

"I just didn't mean to be so harsh to you. It's just... we had a bad experience once." _I can relate to that._ "Haven't we all had bad experiences?" Clementine replied. Nick sat down on the third couch.

"Nick's mom was killed. We tried to take care of someone who got bit." Luke explained as any hostility she had towards Nick dissipated.

"It was my fault. I brought her here. I..."

"It wasn't anyone's ... fault. We all thought we could control it, but we couldn't, and when she turned, Nick's mom was standing right there and she got attacked. And we couldn't do anything for her after that." Luke said.

"So anyways, hopefully you understand." Nick said.

Clementine remembered her last day with Lee, while she was pressed up,right against him, covered in walker blood. She stopped in the streets and she stared wide eyed at her mom and dad, aimlessly walking through the streets. She knew what it was like to loose a parent.

"I get it. Yeah." Clementine replied.

Nick gave a week smile to her and walked upstairs.

"So, since your basically on your own now, what's your plan?" Luke asked.

"I don't really know. It's like you said, I'm kinda on my own now." Clem replied.

"Well you're more than welcom to stay here if you want. At the very least untill you get healed up."

"Do you think everyone else... or anyone else, for that matter, will be okay with that?"

"They'll just have to live with it." Luke said with a smile.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Clem spooned another serving of oatmeal into her mouth as Luke asked, "So, what happened to your mom and dad? If... you don't mind me asking." Clementine just stared down at the table. "I mean, I reckon what happened to them is, well, what happened to just about everyone's parents. You're just so young.. I mean... it's hard to think of you making it so long all on your own but... I dunno... maybe ya did."

Clementine looked back up at Luke and sighed. "They... didn't make it past the first few days."

"That's rough." Luke said with a sad expression of his own. "I uhh... I lost my family too." Clam stared at the wall behind Luke sadly. "Look, I'm sorry... I shouldn't have asked."

Clementine didn't know why, but she just opened up to him. "I lived in a suburb outside of Atlanta. My parents went on vacation in Savannah, and left me with a babysitter. Later on, the group I was with was in Savannah, and I tried to find them... but both of them were already dead."

"God... I'm sorry to hear that."

"After about 2 days of hiding in my treehouse, this man found me and took care of me. We found a bunch of other survivors, and we all tried to make it, but... it didn't work." Clementine smiled as she continued. "That man's name was Lee. He's the reason I've been able to survive. He taught me how to use a gun."

"So, what happened to him?"

Clementine stared down at the table. "I ran away. I was dumb. While our group was in Savannah, there was a man who said that he knew my parents. I thought I knew what I was doing, but I ran away, and Lee died because of me."

"Maybe he was gonna die anyways." Luke said, in an effort to ease her guilt.

Clementine shook her head "Our group had a boat. We were going to head out on the water the day I left. Lee got bitten while he was getting me back. Two members of my group, along with him, died because of me. Lee did get me back though. I found a gun. I could have stopped him from turning, but he told me to leave him behind. He didn't want me to have to do that. After everything he did for me, that's how I repaid him."

"I'm sorry." Luke said.

"Me too." Clementine sighed. "Eventually, the last two members of our group, a couple, Omid and Christa found me. Christa was pregnant. A week or so before she was probably going to give birth, she got killed because of a careless mistake I made. Omid's been taking me ever since then, up until last night, when we got separated after some gang attacked us. And now I'm here."

Clementine managed to look up at Luke and saw what appeared to be pitty in his eyes. Luke looked like he was about to say something when Clementine heard a door open behind him.

"I hate to interrupt, but I'm out there standing watch, and this place looks like a giant neon sign saying "Lurkers welcome"." Pete said. Clementine turned around and saw Pete walking over towards Luke.

"Yeah, it's time to turn in anyways." Luke said.

"Get some rest while you can, we're gonna go fishing first thing in the morning. Clementine, you are going to love the way the fish around here taste." Pete said.

"By the way, I never got the chance for thanking the two of you for saving me out there. I would have died if it wasn't for you." Clementine said.

"No problem Clementine." Pete said. "Luke, you're gonna shift in with Rebecca on watch duty."

"On it." Luke said as he and Pete walked out the front door.

Clementine smiled and went back to her food. For whatever reason, she felt like she could trust Luke. He reminded her of Omid in some ways.

"Oh, look who's still here." Rebecca said after walking in the front door. Clementine just ignored her and kept on eating.

"I wouldn't get cozy if I were you." Rebecca said as a she walked to her room.

"What's your problem?" Clementine said, unable to stand her anymore. Rebecca turned and walked towards the couch.

"My problem is that little girl bullshit you try to pull of ain't gonna work on me. I'm not my husband."

"Swear."

"What?"

"You swore. You should watch your language if you're about to be a mom."

"You should watch your ass, it's about to get thrown back into the woods."

Clementine was fed up with her. "Who's the father?"

"Excuse me?" Rebecca said wide eyed.

"If it's not Alvin's baby, whose is it?"

"Shut your fucking mouth this instant!" Rebecca growled at her. Clementine could see the fear in her eyes.

"It's okay. I won't tell unless you give me a good reason to." Clementine smiled and went back to eating. _Probably not the best idea, but worth it._  
  
"I knew you were gonna be a fucking problem." Rebecca said as she walked away from Clementine and into her room.

Clementine finished off her oatmeal and laid down on the couch. She placed the blanket over her, and started to fall asleep. It had been a long day, and she fell asleep within minutes.


	7. Rising

** Clementine: **

Clementine opened her eyes and felt the pale gray light of early morning. _Might as well get some fresh air_. She pulled the blanket off, folded it, and placed it back on the couch. She quietly walked, hoping the creaking wooden floorboards of the cabin wouldn't wake up anyone else. She opened the front door, and stepped out on the front porch of the cabin.

"Well, you're an early riser aren't ya." Clem jumped as she heard Andrew's voice to her right, and saw him sitting on a chair. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

"Good morning Andrew." Clementine said as she tried to find a good excuse to go back inside.

" Morning Clem." Luke said. Clem turned around and saw Luke walking around the corner. He had his machete over his back, and his flashlight was in his left hand. "Hey, could you do me a favor and keep watch for a bit? I've been up all night, and Alvin'll be shifting in for you in a couple of minutes."

 _Crap_. Luke had saved her life less than 12 hours ago. She couldn't say no to him for something so simple. "Sure thing."

"Thanks. There's a chair over there, along with a pair of binoculars. See ya later." Clementine walked around the corner to the other half of the porch and sat down.

"So kid, where you from? Before all of this, I mean." Andrew said from around the corner.

"Georgia." The last thing she wanted to do was give Andy any clue that she knew who he was, but she had already told Luke where she was from. She didn't want to lie to them, or at least look like she was lying to them.

"That's funny, I grew up there too. My parents owned a small dairy farm."

"Well, its a small world, I guess." Clementine remarked as she stared blankly into the forest in front of her. _Don't say anything else, please don't say anything else..._

"So, what brings you up here to North Carolina?"

"I was traveling with a man, Omid. I met him shortly after everything started." That was true if a three and a half month time gap counted as 'shortly after'.

"By the way, we're all real sorry 'bout locking you up last night. For what it's worth, we did decide we were gonna fix up your arm in the morning."

"Thanks."

The two of them sat in dead silence for a few minutes. "Hey Andy." Clementine heard Alvin say. Clementine rubbed her eyes as she got up and handed the binoculars to Alvin who was already walking towards her.

"By the way kid, how did you manage to get into the house last night?"

"You left the window open." Clementine said quietly. As much as she was upset that he wasn't going to help her, he did help her unintentionally. He didn't need any more trouble with his wife.

"Oh..." Alvin just turned around and walked away from her. Clementine walked back to the front door when it opened up right in front of her.

"Morning Clementine. You're coming with us." Pete was standing right under the mantel of the front door, holding a rifle in his hands.

"You weren't kidding when you said we were going first thing in the morning." Clementine said.

"I'm just glad you managed to wake up this early all on your own. You'll fit right in with the rest of us." He said. "NICK, HURRY UP!" He called inside the cabin.

"I'M COMING, I'M COMING!" Nick yelled back as he walked out of the dining room and towards the front door.

"What took you so damn long?" Pete asked,

"Couldn't find my hat." Nick said as he walked past Pete and Clementine and headed down the front porch.

"Safety on that thing?" Pete asked, referencing the rifle in Nick's hands.

"Yes uncle Pete." Nick said wearily. Clem followed Pete and Nick down the stairs and down the path to the river.


	8. River Runs Red

**Clementine:**

"How do you know so much about this stuff Clementine?" Pete asked. Along with Nick, the three of them had been walking towards the river for about an hour. The two men were each carrying a rifle, while Clementine still clutching the bloody hammer used to kill the lurker in the shed.

"I was traveling with a man, Omid, who knew a lot about the Civil War. He was always pointing out landmarks that talked about battles, camps, lots of cool things." Clementine said.

"Hold up a minute guys, I'll be right back." Nick said as he left Pete and Clementine and headed off the path and into the forest.

"Okay." Clementine said.

"Come on Clementine. He knows how to get to the river." Clementine hesitated for a moment before following Pete.

"So, how ya holding up? I heard you getting a bit of an earful from Rebecca last night." Pete said.

_At least I gave her one right back._ "What's her problem anyways? ", Clementine responded.

"She's got a lot to deal with. Can you imagine what it must be like, trying to have a baby with the world the way it is now?" Clementine followed Pete over a door that was being used as a makeshift bridge over a small trench.

"How'd that get there?" Clementine asked.

"You mean that door? Got no clue. It was like that when we found the place." The two of them walked side by side for a few seconds, and Clementine looked at Pete's rifle.

"I'm assuming you know how to shoot a gun, right? I mean, its hard to imagine anyone surviving this long without knowing." Pete said.

"My friend Lee taught me how to use a handgun, and I'm a decent shot. I haven't used a gun that big before" Clementine said referencing the rifle in Pete's hands. She felt the cold metal of her own handgun press against her back under her shirt. _How could they have not seen it after all this time?_

"That makes sense. A gun this size would probably knock you flat." Pete stepped over a gap in a barbed wire fence as Clementine followed him.

"How old are ya anyways?" Pete asked.

"Eleven".

Pete stopped walking."Ya know, Nick was only a bit older than that when I took him on his first hunting trip. A few hours into it, we came across this beautiful 13 point buck, just standing there on the ridge line. The boy takes the rifle, places it against his shoulder, lines up the shot like I taught him... then I hear him start whining." He turned to face her, and continued, "He turns to me and he says, 'I can't shoot it Uncle Pete. I just can't do it. Please don't make me shoot it.' " Pete said in a fake sad voice.

"Its hard to imagine anyone hesitating to shoot an animal. Well, at least a deer. I wouldn't like having to shoot a dog, even if it bit me." Clementine remembered how she had managed to kill a squirrel just last week. It didn't have much meat on it, but it was better than starving. Pete chuckled, but then looked at her sadly.

"Kid, how much do you remember about the way things were before? I mean really, truly remember. You were, what, eight, nine years old at the time."

Clementine tried to remember what things were like back then. She remembered how she had been before all of this. _Who was that kid?_ She wondered to herself sadly. She had been so dumb back then, but... things had been so much better. God, how she missed those days."

Clementine just looked at the ground and frowned "Yeah. I might not have been able to shoot the deer either..."

"HEY!" Clementine and Pete turned around to see Nick running towards them. "Why the hell didn't you wait up? You said you would."

"Did'ya really think we were gonna wait around while you pissed on a tree? You know where the river is boy." Pete brushed Nick off and continued walking. "Anyways," he said to Clementine, who was now walking alongside him, "as I was sayin', I went to take the gun out of Nick's hands before the buck runs off, when BANG. The gun fires. The boy almost gut shot me, and as you'd expect the buck runs away."

"Why the fuck are you telling this to her?!" Nick asked from behind the two of them.

Pete and Clementine turned around to face Nick. "'Cause you damn near killed her yesterday. Seems important. Just tryin' to let her know you don't mean anything personal by it." Pete said.

"Why are you always trying to give me such a hard time?" Nick said.

"Cause you're doing the same to everyone else!"

"Look," Nick's said, clearly trying to calm himself down, "I already apologized to her. She accepted."

"Okay, I didn't know that."

"Guys, maybe we should just get to the river." Clementine said.

"You're always trying to make me look like an idiot." Nick said.

"You do a great job of that all on your own!" Pete said angrily. Nick walked foward deliberately bumping into Pete. "Leaving us again?"

"I know where the damn river is!" Nick said.

Both Clementine and Pete were silent for a moment. Pete turned to face Clementine again, "So as I was saying, I wound up finding that same buck later that season, and shot it right in the neck. I brought it up to my sister's who gladly took a large chunk of the meat. Nick didn't speak to me for a month. Sometimes, you need to fill a role. Even if it means the folks you love hate you for it."

"I doubt he hates you." Clementine said.

"Nick's father was a drunk piece of shit whenever he was around, which thankfully wasn't all that often. His mom was my sister. It fell to me be the man in his life, and did everything I could to raise him right. I couldn't just be kind Uncle Pete." He said.

"Well, maybe you should tell him what you said about filling a role. It makes sense" Clementine said.

Pete didn't respond to that, but Clementine could tell he was thinking about what she just said.

"UNCLE PETE!" Clementine and Nick both turned towards the direction of Nick's voice and ran towards the river.

"Nick, what is it?!" Pete and Clementine ran up to Nick, who was standing in front of the river. "... Holy Mother of God..." Pete said as he and Clemstared in horror at the scene in front of them. There were four bloody corpses scattered around the riverbank. Pete slowly walked up to the closest body and carefully poked it with the barrel of the rifle. "Full of holes. And the blood looks like it's fresh. At most a few days old. These people were alive when they were killed, you can tell by the eyes." Pete said, referencing the still colored irises of the bodies. For whatever reason, when someone turned, their eyes turned almost completely white.

"Who do you think did this?" Clementine asked, horrified. She felt herself gripping her hammer tighter. The tension in the air was palpable.

"Don't know, but I doubt this was the work of you're average gang of thugs." Pete said.

"Put yourself in Carver's shoes. What do you do?" Nick said.

"Who's Carver?" Clementine asked. Nick and Pete glanced at each other.

"Let's check the rest. And keep your eyes peeled for ammo, we're running low." Pete said.

_What are they hiding..._ Clementine walked over to a corpse that was partialy submerged in the water, the river's water was slightly red as it flowed through the bullet wound coming through the dead man's scull. Clementine looked over the man. Bald head, blue jeans, black leather jacket with the words "Plastic Toys" on the back.

"This one's shot too." Clementine said.

"Through the head?" Pete asked.

"Yep." Clementine sighed. She had seen so much death, but she still wasn't fully used to it.

"At least the poor bastard won't turn." Pete said sadly. "By the way, be careful. Some of these guys might be moving, one way or another."

Clementine got up and looked over to a small island in the middle of the river. She could see at least two bodies.

"There are more out there, on that island." Clementine said.

"This wasn't some rinky-dink pissing match." Pete said.

"What do ya think it was then?" Nick said.

"FUBAR." Pete replied.

"Huh?" Clementine said, confused.

"Fucked up beyond all recognition." Pete explained as he started wading across the river.

"What the hell are you doing? We gotta get out of here!" Nick exclaimed.

"We've gotta check the rest!"

"Why?"

"Calm down and think about it son!"

"Calm down?! We gotta go now!"

"For Christ's sake get ahold of yourself!"

"One of them might still be alive Nick." Clementine added in.

"So what?" Nick quickly responded.

"So they might just be willing to tell us who did this. We need to do this now." Clementine jumped onto a boulder in the middle of the river, "You stay on that side, keep searching those ones." Clementine hopped of the boulder and onto the island in the middle of the river, and then hopped over to the island.

"This is a bad idea Pete." Nick said as he turned around and lifted his rifle to scan the area.

"You think I enjoy doing this either? Nick, you've got to understand a simple truth."

"What? That you're a douchebag?"

"That nobody in this world will give a damn wether you enjoy something or not! You gotta grow up Nick!"

"Whatever." Nick said as he walked over to another body.

"Come on Clem. You want to pull your own weight, keep watch over the tree line. Whoever did this might be waiting for another sucker to stumble across this mess to launch an ambush. It's what I'd do."

"You got it." Clementine responded.

"You always so agreeable?"

"Nope."

"Good. You'll fit right in with the rest of us. Just keep your head on straight." Clementine heard the telltale sounds of a lurker behind her and turned around. There was a corpse whose foot had been wedged underneath a large boulder, trapping him. He had several bullet holes, as well as a makeshift spear through in his chest. "Same deal with this one. Shot to pieces. I hope this isn't anyone you know."

"It's not."

"Good." Pete said as he placed his boot on the walkers chest ,lifted the spear out of his body, and jabbed it right back into his head. He turned around to face the opposite riverbank. "Son of a bitch... there are more over on that side. Check the rest of these ones, see if you can find anything that will tell us who they where." Pete waded thought the water to the over side, leaving Clementine alone on the river.

The first bodies that caught Clementine's eye were lying right next to each other in a pool of blood, a man and a woman. Clementine walked over to them and started searching the woman first. _Whoever did this probably looted the bodies, but you never know._ Clementine reached into the woman's back pocket and pulled out a ten dollar bill. Currency was usually worthless, but she had encountered a few people who still traded with it. It weighed almost nothing, so she decided to place it in her back pocket.

Clementine looked over to the mans body and immediately caught sight of a pair of unbroken glasses. While she was traveling with Omid, she once managed to sell a pair of them to someone for 2 weeks worth of food. As she was taking off the glasses she noticed that this man hadn't been shot in the head. As soon as the glasses were off, she raised up her hammer, and swung the sharp end right into the man's skull several times.

"JESUS CLEM, what's wrong?!" Pete called out form the other side of the river.

"He wasn't shot in the head... making sure he wouldn't turn on me." Clementine said between breaths.

"Well then, good on you. Keep at it." Pete said as he went back to searching bodies. She looked down back at the body and made sure not to look at the head that she had just caved in. She wasn't used to it, _and Lee didn't want me to get used to it either_. She flipped the body over, and noticed a loaded magazine of ammo right underneath his body.

Clementine looked around to make sure Nick and Pete weren't watching her, and pulled out her gun. She took the mag out of her gun, and inserted the new mag. _Thank God_. She was starting to trust this group, but Andy was still a wild card. _If he finds out..._ she didn't want to think about it. She put the gun back into her pants and covered it up with the shirt.

She picked up the glasses with her left hand, held the blood soaked hammer in her right, and walked over to the far side of the island to another dead body. As she walked over to the body, she saw a pink bulge on the edge of the water. Walking closer she recognized it.

She gasped as she saw her backpack lying on the ground. Walking over to the pack on the ground she stepped over another body. She opened it up and was greeted by her water bottle.

"Help..." Clementine turned around in shock as she realized the man she had just stepped over was fully alive, albeit with several bullet wounds.

"That's my backpack..." Clementine said as she looked at the man near death. Then the realization dawned on her, "You were in the woods with Omid. That man I was with. What happened to him? Please! Tell me." The man coughed blood. She didn't know how much time she had left. She lifted up the bloody hammer, and a drop of blood fell right in front of the the scavenger's face, and she could see the fear in his face. She wasn't going to use it, but he didn't know that.

"He... _cough _... got away... Please..." The man reached forward towards Clementine's open backpack, to the water bottle . Clementine reached inside her backpack and pulled out the bottle. After taking of the cap, she placed the bottle next to the man's lips. "Thank you... Thank you." The scavenger managed to get out as he rolled over on his back. Clementine rubbed the blood off of her hammer on her pant leg and placed it, along with the glasses and the water bottle, in her backpack.

* * *

** Peter: ** _  
_

_Figures. No ammo._ Pete thought to himself as he got up from searching to body.

Out of nowhere, his right ankle exploded in agonizing pain. "AGHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed as he took a step back and saw the corpse he just searched biting into his leg. He pointed his rifle right at the crawling lurker's skull and fired.

"PETE! YOU OKAY?!" He heard Nick call out from opposite side of the river. He saw both him and the new girl looking over at him.

"I'm okay... I'm okay... I just... Just lost my footing..." He quickly came up with an excuse as the horrifying realization hit him.

_I'm bitten. Best case scenario, I lose my foot. Worst case..._

"FUCK! LURKERS INCOMING!" He heard Nick cry out from the other side of the river.

Pete looked around and saw a group of lurkers closing in on him. _Gunshot must have brought them... shit!_ He lifted up his rifle and fired, sending one of them to the ground. He pulled back the bolt, saw the shell eject from his gun, chambered another round...

And was greeted by a click.

"SHIT, I'M OUT OF AMMO!" He looked around in panic. "Son of a bitch... " he muttered, "DAMMIT, YOU GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE BOTH OF YOU!"

"COME THIS WAY! I'VE GOT AMMO! Nick called out. Pete knew that he couldn't run very far with his leg the way it was.

"COME TO THIS SIDE! I SEE A WAY OUT!" Pete stopped walking back and started waving at them to come to him, "COME ON, COME ON!" He called out as he felt a lurker right on top of him. Pete's back fell on top of a boulder next to the riverbank. "SHIT!" He cried out as he grabbed the lurker and tried to kick it away, "GOD!"

He had his left foot on the lurker's chest, and he was trying to keep the monster's hands away, which were less than an inch from ripping into his face. He felt panic overcome him as the adrenalin coursed through his body. Pete was in good shape, but pushing off the lurker was a challenge. His were giving in and he saw it's teeth get closer in closer.

Pete heard a gun go off right next to him, and saw the lurker's head rip open. He kicked the walker away and saw that the kid who he had saved less than a day ago had just returned the favor.

"You had a gun the whole time?!" He asked, not sure how to feel about that little fact.

"No time to explain!" The young girl said as she took aim at the closest walker and fired. Pete also managed to notice that she had a backpack now, but he had bigger problems at the moment.

Pete hobbled over to the edge of the riverbank and called out to Nick. "NICK, JUST HOLD ON!" He called out to his nephew, who had just swung the but of his rifle into a lurker and busted its skull. "NICK!" Nick froze and looked at Pete, then turned and ran back towards the cabin as lurkers followed him.

He heard Clementine fire her pistol a third time. "Save the ammo, come on!" He grabbed her shoulder, causing her to miss, and started hobbling away. He heard his savior's footsteps running beside him as the two of them ran into the forest away from the cabin.


	9. A Rock Among Sand

** Peter: **

"Look, over there!" Pete heard Clementine call out and felt a tug on his arm. He looked to his left and noticed a small red truck. He followed Clementine over opened the doors on the back, and jumped inside. He heard Clementine climb in, closed the door, and jammed his rifle between the door handles.

"That should keep them stuck outside." Pete said. On cue, he heard pounding at the door. "On the downside... we're stuck in here too." He slumped down to the floor, with his back against the wall. _Goddamn this hurts so bad_. His right ankle felt like it was on fire. Clem was standing, looking at the bite. "Just go on out and say it. Didn't your folks teach ya' it's rude to stare?" He said with a chuckle.

"What are we gonna do?" Pete scanned the room and saw a hacksaw lying on a shelf.

"Hand me that, would you?" Clementine picked up the hacksaw an handed it to him. "You aren't gonna want to watch this." He said as he closed his eyes and placed the hacksaw right below his knee.

_One._

He grabbed the hacksaw with his other hand, he knew he would need all his strength for this.

 _Two_.

Pete inhaled deeply, getting his strength up.

_THREE_

He pressed the saw against his leg but stopped. "Damn it all, it's no use," he said, throwing the saw to the side. "I'd just bleed out before I get ten feet away from this truck. Besides, what are you gonna do, carry me over your shoulder?" Pete sighed. "Just... I dunno... Give me a minute."

"Try to get some sleep." Clementine told him. Pete felt a wave of exhaustion sweep over him as he slumped further down. "The keys are still in." Clementine said.

"Give it a try." Pete heard the engine start up, then putter out. "Out of gas." Clementine walked over to the saw on the ground and reached for it.

"Are you sure you don't want me to try?"

"Yeah. I'm sure." Pete said with a sigh. He looked over to Clementine, who was riffling through some box. "There wouldn't happen to be anything useful in that, box, would there?" Clementine held up a carton of cigarets. Pete had quit a year before all of this, but since all this began, he took whatever he could get his hands on. "Hand me one of those, will you? It'll probably taste like tar by now, but I'd smoke a skunk tail if I had one." The girl walked over and handed him the small box.

"Got a light?" Pete asked with a chuckle, recognizing the absurdity of the situation. Much to his surprise, she pulled a lighter out of her backpack.

"Here you go." The girl flicked on the lighter and moved it under Pete's cigaret. He inhaled and coughed.

"That tastes about as bad as it smells."

"So, what are we going to do now?"

"I dunno. We wait, I suppose."

* * *

_Pete drove up his sister's driveway in his pickup early that morning, with his tires making an impression on the light dusting of snow on. He knocked at the door, his nephew burst out, coat on, and egar to go on his first hunting trip. "Morning son!" Pete said as Nick jumped into his arms, giving him a tight hug._

_"You ready uncle Pete?" His energetic young twelve year old nephew said._

_"Do you think I'd be here if I weren't?" He said as he let go of Nick. "Common, get to the car."_

_They were driving down the road and Nick yawned. "What time is it anyways?"_

_"See for yourself." Pete said as he took off his watch and handed it to Nick_

_"7:00 AM." Nick said as he handed the watch back to Pete._

_"Keep it son."_

_"Its kinda big on me."_

_"You'll grow into it soon enough."_

_Now they were outside in, the woods. Pete watched with pride as Nick lifted up the rifle. He had insisted on teaching him, not that his sister had given any qualms about it. Every man (or woman) with Randall blood learned how to shoot._

_"I can't shoot it Uncle Pete." Nick said._

_"Huh?"_

_"I just can't do it. Please don't make me shoot it."_

_Pete didn't want the buck to get away so he walked up to Nick and grabbed the rifle. Within moments, his back exploded in pain._

* * *

The first thing Pete realized was how damn hard it was to breath. Pete tried putting pressure on his right leg, only for it to feel like it was being set on fire. He rolled over and saw Clementine holding a hacksaw.

"Sorry for waking you up like that..."

"Its fine." Pete got out between coughs, as he managed to place his back against a wall. Pete looked around and just noticed it was night time, or at least early morning. "I can't believe we've been sitting here an entire day." Pete coughed. "You want to know the worst part about all this?" Pete said, coughing up blood. "I've been thinking 'bout this. I don't want to die." He said with a chuckle and a cough. He looked over and saw the sadness on the young girl's face. "I never thought I'd wind up saying stupid shit like this on my deathbed... as it were. But there it is."

He thought about never seeing Nick again. "I'm terrified Clementine. God help me, I'm scared."

The young girl got on her knees next to him and said, "What... what does it feel like?"

Pete coughed. "It feels like a noose is wrapped around my neck, getting tighter ever second. It... hurts to breath. I'm burning up too."

Pete remembered his dream. He remembered his nephew, who might as well be his son.

"Look... kid... I want you to promise me you'll watch out for Nick. I love that dumb boy. I know you haven't gotten off to a good start with him, but he has a heart of gold. He hides it under a block of lead, and he's been given a tough hand to play with, but he is a good boy."

"I'll do what I can. I promise." The young girl said to him.

Pete felt a sense of relief sweep over him at her words. "Thank you." Pete went over to the door, removed the rifle, and opened it a crack.

"What are you doing?" The child said.

"Just like I figured, they're wandered off a bit by now. The group isn't going to find us now. You're gonna have to run for it."

"What about you?"

"I'll distract them for you. I'll buy you some time, to get out of here."

There was a moment of silence before the girl spoke. "No. You're coming with me."

"For what? So I can die a couple of hours from now?"

"So you can say goodbye to the people you care about. To see Nick again."

Nick. There it was. He could go on just a few hours more, for his sake.

"Okay... I'll try..." He said as he got up. "Listen... don't slow down for me. You know how to get to the cabin from here, right?" Clementine nodded her head. "Good. Well, as my father used to say, we're burning daylight. Come on, lets get out of here." Pete slowly opened the doors to the truck, and jumped out. _The rifle will just slow me down._ He left it in the truck.

Clementine landed beside him. Moments later, a lurker came up next to him. "RUN!" He cried out as he started hopping forward, favoring his left leg.

He got about 3 feet away before he fell on his face. "I ain't getting out of this. Go on now, go find Nick and the others." Pete clenched his fists, and tried to gather what remaining strength he had left.

"You have to try!" Clementine ran towards him and pulled on his arm.

"I SAID GO! DAMNIT, JUST GO!" Pete yelled as he shoved her back. He could hear her footsteps running off. "RUN!"

Pete flung his fist in the air, making contact with one of the lurkers. Moments later, he cried out in pain as he felt teeth sink into his shoulder.


	10. Home

**Clementine:**

Clementine burst through the side gate of the electrified fence surrounding the house, breathing heavily. She had been running for at least half a mile. She stopped to catch her breath, closed and locked the gate, then sat down to check how much ammo she had left in her pistol.

 _Only one bullet left._ Clementine sighed. She had already used up most of the clip she found on the river bank on her was back to the cabin. She looked at the gun in her hands unsure if she should let the cabin member's know she had it on her. 'They have to trust me eventually, right?' She thought as she decided to hold it while walking into the cabin.

"Don't worry Rebecca. Your husband's gonna be fine." Clementine heard Carlos say as she walked through the side door. Rebecca, Andy, and Carlos were all sitting at the table.

"You're back!" Andy said with a smile that was matched by Carlos and Rebecca. "Wait, where did you get that?" He said, the group's smile beginning to fade as he referenced her gun.

"Wait, where's everyone else? They aren't with you?" Carlos asked.

"Where's Alvin?!" Rebecca said as she stood up from her chair.

"They've been gone for hours looking for the three of you! What happened?" Carlos said as he walked up to Clementine. "And when did you get that gun?"

"Pete got bit." Clementine told the three of them.

"What!" Andy exclaimed.

"Where did it happen?" Carlos asked.

"Nick, Pete and I where down by the stream. We got separated, and I was with Pete, but-"

Rebecca cut her off, "What are we waiting for, let's go!"

"Hold on a moment Rebecca." Carlos said.

"My husband is still out there! GET. THE. GUNS!" She said. Andy ran into the other room. "Luke talked Alvin into going out to look for you and the others. I told him not to go." Rebecca said while facing Clementine. "Damn it Luke."

Andy came back with two rifles and a pistol. He tossed the pistol to Rebecca and threw one of the rifles to Carlos. Rebecca ran out of the door as soon as she had her gun, followed by Andy. Carlos turned around just before walking out the door. "Clementine... can you watch Sarah for me? She's upstairs, just keep her occupied. And don't tell her what's going on!"

"I'll watch her. You can trust me." Clementine responded. She wasn't sure, but she was fairly sure she saw Carlos look at her gun with a look of suspicion on his face.

"Just don't let anyone in for anything. We'll be back soon. And... thank you." Carlos ran out the door to catch up to the others.

Clementine closed the door behind him and made sure it was locked. Putting the gun in the back of her pants and under her shirt, she made her way upstairs. She opened one of the doors and was greeted by Sarah "Say Cheese!" Sarah said as she took a shot of Clementine with an old polaroid camera. Clementine watched as Sarah took the picture out of camera. "I found this under the house. There was so much cool stuff down there. Take one of me!" She said enthusiastically, handing the camera to Clementine.

 _Well this should keep her busy for a little while._ "Okay, sure." Clementine said as she took the camera from Sarah.

"Get me in a good pose, okay?" The teenager said as she smiled. Clementine waited for her to stand still, and then took the shot. "Let me see it." Saran said as she took the photo from Clementine. "That's so cool!" She exclaimed.

 _Could she be any more enthusiastic?_ Clementine wondered. On cue, Sarah seemed to calm down.

"Hey, do you know where my dad is?" The older girl asked.

"He'll be fine." Clementine said, deliberately dodging the question. "He's smart." _Even though he doesn't know what a dog bite looks like._ Sarah sat down on the floor, breathing heavily. Clem sat down next to her, "Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah... just give me a second." Sarah closed her eyes for a moment to regain her composure. She opened her eyes and looked over at Clem, "Want to see something else I found?" Before waiting for a response, she got up and reached underneath the bed. Clem watched with a mix of astonishment and dread as she pulled out a handgun. "Can you teach me how to use it? I wasn't able to find any bullets."

 _Thats probably for the best._ Clementine thought as she listened to Sarah talk.

"I know its dangerous, but I need or learn at sometime, right? What if I get in trouble and I have to use one."

 _I don't think this is what Carlos had in mind when he asked me to distract her._ Clementine remembered how she was only eight when she first shot a gun. _It can't hurt to have her know a little bit, right?_ "Okay, but you have to promise me not to let your dad know. And remember, it's not a toy."

"I know it's not a toy. And I won't tell, I promise."

"Okay, now give me the gun. I need to show you some things first."

"Okay" Sarah said as she handed Clementine the gun.

"First some safety rules." She said as she went over what Omid had taught her in her head. Lee had given her the basics, but Omid had given her more lessens while they were traveling over the course of several months. "You always have to treat the gun as if it's loaded."

"Why?"

"Because it's safer that way. If you make a mistake, and the gun really is loaded, someone could get hurt. So never point the gun at anyon- at anything you aren't going to shoot. "

"Okay. What else?" Sarah asked.

"See this switch on the side? That's the safety. Unless you're going to use this, always have it on."

"Makes sense."

"Also, never keep your finger on the trigger unless you are about to shoot."

"How come?"

"You don't want to shoot the gun before you're ready to. "

"Got it." Sarah said as Clementine handed her the unloaded gun back. Sarah held the a barrel of the gun with her left hand and placed her right thumb right behind the barrel.

"Not like that." Clementine said as she moved Sarah's hands to the correct positions. "To aim, you line up the sites. Do you get how to do that?"

"Yeah, it seems fairly simple."

"Just don't lock you elbows, and try to hold your breath when you take a shot."

"Is there anything else I should know?" Sarah asked.

Clementine thought for a moment. "Always remember, it's just a thing." She said, recalling Lee's words to her.

"Huh?"

"Have you ever used a hammer before?"

"Yeah, once or twice. What does that matter?"

"Well a gun is like a tool. It can be helpful if used properly, but it can hurt you if you aren't careful. Does that make sense?"

Sarah thought for a moment before responding, "Yeah, it does." Sarah aimed down the sights before turning and aiming the gun at Clementine's head, "I need to aim for the head right?"

Clementine ducked down, " **DON'T DO THAT**!" She yelled at Sarah.

"Sorry... Sorry." Sarah said pulling the gun away from Clementine and up into the air. As Clementine got up, she noticed Sarah's finger was on the trigger.

_Did she hear a word I said?_

Sarah walked to the window."Maybe I can practice outside. There are a couple of tree's inside the fence. Maybe we could use those."

 _Probably not._ Clementine facepalmed.

"Hey Luke's back!" Sarah said. She tossed the gun under the bed where she found it and ran out of the room.


	11. The Crooked Kind

** Clementine: **

Clementine sighed and walked down the stairs. She caught a quick glance of. Luke walking next to one of the windows. _That doesn't look like Luke..._ Clementine walked across the living room to where Sarah was hiding behind a wall.

"That's not Luke." Sarah said.

"Who is it then?"

"I... I don't remember. But he can't see me!" Sarah said rapidly.

"Shhhhh. Find somewhere to hide. I'll try to get him to go away."

Clementine slowly crept up to the door as she heard the man knock. "Hello?" The stranger asked. She was about to lock the door as the man opened it for himself. He looked down at her, and smiled. "Hello there."

"I have a gun." Clementine said, partially out of response to seeing the revolver holstered at his side.

"Smart girl." The stranger said. "It's good that you're able to protect yourself. But I'm not a bad man. I can promise you that much. My group and I are set up down river, and I'm honestly surprised I haven't stumbled across this place yet. What's your name?"

 _You first._ "What's your name?" Clementine asked the stranger.

"The name's George." The stranger stuck out his hand.

Clementine reached up to shake his hand. "I'm... Carley."

"Pleasure to meet you Carley. " George said. "Mind if I come in for a bit?" He said, walking in uninvited. "It's pretty cold out there, and it feels like you have some bit of warmth inside."

 _If all he wants is warmth, I don't want to piss him off._ Clementine said nothing as the man walked in.

"This place looks nice. Anyone else around?" He asked.

"It's just me... and dad." She added in quickly. _He's not gonna think I set up an electric fence_.

"Really?" George said. "What's his name?"

"Ed." Clementine said. _It's not like telling him my dad's name is going to do anything._

"Good name. Succinct, to the point. I like him already. Do you know where he is?"

"He's out."

"That's a shame. I would have liked to meet him." He gave a small sigh as he walked into the house even more. "Well, I'll get to the point. I'm out here looking for some of my people. Eight of 'em, to be specific. Two young guys, they sorta act like brothers, but they're just close friends."

 _Luke and Nick._ Clementine thought.

"An old man, who usually hangs around with them."

_Pete._

"This Hispanic guy and his daughter. She has glasses, and she's a few years older than you, judging by looks."

_Carlos and Sarah._

"This guy in his 30's with a pretty thick southern accent."

 _Andy_.

"A fat black guy,"

 _Alvin_.

"and a pretty little pregnant lady."

 _Rebecca_.

"They've been out for a while and...,well, I'm worried about 'em. I think they might have gotten lost."

 _I hope this works_. "I think I might have seen them. They're dead."

George's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped for a moment , "What! You saw who? Where?"

"Down by the stream. It looks like walkers got them. Dad and I didn't stick around to find out. We left as soon as we saw the bodies."

George visibly breathed out in relief. "I saw that mess too. Thank God that wasn't them. The people I'm looking for are more careful than that."

"Well, I'm glad it wasn't them." _Crap, I should have said I found them in the woods._

"Me too." George turned around, slightly opened the door of the dining room. He looked through the crack for a moment, then opened the door. Clementine followed him as he walked into the room.

"Lot of dishes for two people." He commented, turning his head towards the sink full of dishes.

"Yeah, well we only do the dishes when we need too. We don't want to waste the water."

"You got running water in here? Impressive." George said, sounding genuinely impressed.

"Yeah, my dad was an engineer before all of this." Clementine responded. "He set up the fence too." Clementine thought for a moment before asking, "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Now that you mention it, that would be nice. Thank you Carley." Clementine walked over to cabinet above the sink, pulled out two glasses, and filled them up with water. Turning around, she saw the man was sitting at the table. He was twirling a kitchen knife on the tabletop.

"Here you go." She said, placing one of them in front of George. George put the knife off to his side.

"Its nice to know not everyone lost their sense of hospitality from all of this." He said with a smile as Clementine sat down on the other side of the table. "Your father raised you well."

"Yeah, he did." She said, trying to keep the sadness out of her voice.

"Well," George said lifting up his glass. "Here's to being good neighbors." Clementine lifted up her own glass and clinked it against his before taking a sip. "So, have you two been here a while or are you just passing through? I really hope you and your dad aren't heading up north, looking for Atlantis, or whatever folks claim is up there."

"We've been here for a few months." Clementine said.

"Its kinda risky staying in one place for too long, don't ya think? I can't say I blame you though, you've got a real good setup here, with the fence and the water and all. Hell, I've only been here for a few minutes and I already don't want to leave."

 _I've noticed._ Clementine thought to herself.

"In any case, I wish you and your father the best of luck Carley. You two seem decent enough." George finished his cup of water, picked up the knife and his cup, and put both of them in the sink.

George walked out into the living room. "So, you'll be going now?" Clementine asked. George ignored her question and walked over too one of the couches in the living room.

"I knew a guy who always wore shirts like this." He said. Clementine noticed him standing in front of one of Carlos's plaid shirts. "He was a doctor. He could be a real smug son of a bitch, but he was pretty smart."

"What was his name?" Clementine asked.

"Carlos."

 _Well, that settles that._ Clementine recalled several mentions of a man named Carver. _Maybe this guy works for him or something? He seems decent enough. He's persistent, but civil._ Clementine thought with some doubt in her mind.

George looked over at the chess board on the table "It looks like white's in trouble. At this rate, he'll be checkmated in 3 moves if he's not careful." George said.

"I'm white." Clementine said. "My dad usually beats me in chess."

"You and your father must both be pretty smart. I can't recall any games winding up with this formation. Lots of pieces taken out of the game." He paused. "It's a close match."

Clementine heard the floor boards creek. _Sarah_.

George turned to face her "What was that?" The friendly look was gone from his face. Clementine shrugged. George walked to the bottom of the steps. Clementine heard a door close. "Correct me if I'm wrong Carley, but didn't you say nobody was here?"

"It's probably just the wind." Clementine made eye contact with George. His eyes looked like steel as he drew his gun and walked up the stairs.

Clementine followed him up the stairs. _Please be hiding somewhere safe Sarah_. She thought as she drew her own gun. She hoped to God she didn't have to use it.

George opened the door to the room she and Sarah were in a few moments ago with his revolver raised, ready to fire. He scanned the room before re-holstering her gun. "Like I said, nobody is here." _Where did Sarah go?_ Clementine kept her eyes fixed on the intruder, making sure he didn't see her looking around for Sarah.

"Seems that way." He said, holstering his revolver and turning around. "I couldn't leave this place with a clean conscience if someone was poking around, right?"

 _Like you are?_ "Sure..."

George was about to take a step forward before he looked at the ground. He looked back at Clementine with a smug smile on his face as he reached down to the floor. Clementine tried to keep the horror off her face as he showed her Sarah's photo in his hand, "You wouldn't happen to know who this is, would you Carley?"

Clementine took photo from his hand, "I've never seen her before George."

Clementine stared at George, while he stared back. It was George who broke the silence, "You don't have the slightest clue who these people really are, do you?"

"What are you talking about?" Clementine said, trying to keep up the bluff.

"Let me put it this way. When you first met them, how much did they trust you?" Clementine was silent. "Well, I believe I've troubled you long enough. I'll see myself out." George walked out of the room.

Clementine pulled out her gun.

She watched the stranger walk down the stairs and aimed.

"You have a real-" George looked up at her on the balcony, and stared down the barrel of her gray G17. He lifted his arms to his side, making himself an open target. "Look, Carley- and for the record, I know that's not your real name - I'm gonna advise you not to take that shot. No matter what your 'friends' told you, I'm not a bad man."

"I could save them a lot of trouble by shooting you." Clementine said, with a thousand thoughts spinning through her mind.

"That may be true. But what have they ever done for you? How-"

Clementine cut him off, "Luke and Pete saved my life."

The stranger gave her an icy grin "Oh, did they? What did they do to you next?"

"Well... They locked me in a shed."

George gave out a chuckle. "If they don't trust you, why are you trusting them?"

 _He has a point..._ Clementine tried to shark the thought out of his head.

"Listen kid, you've probably met your fair share of awful people right?"

"Yeah..."

"People who have tried to rob you?"

"Hasn't everyone meet people like that?"

"People who tired to hurt you? Kill you?"

"Of course."

"Have I done anything along those lines?"

"Not really.."

"I can tell you're a good person." George said. "You don't want to take that shot, now do you?"

For what seemed like and eternity, Clementine stood there with the gun aimed at his chest. She slowly lowered the gun, "Don't come back!" She said as forcefully as she could manage.

"You have a real fine day now." George said as he walked under the balcony.

Clementine walked back into the bedroom and sat on the bed.

"OW **!** " She heard Sarah call out from under the bed. Clementine got up and saw Sarah crawl out from under the bed. "Where is he?" She asked.

"He's gone."

"Is he going to come back?" Sarah asked nervously.

 _Definitely_. Clementine thought as she saw him walk out of the front gate through the window.


	12. There's no Going Home

** Clementine: **

Clementine had been sitting on the couch next to her in silence for what felt like hours. "We need to go out and find the others. They've been gone to long." Clementine stood up.

"But we can't go outside the fence! It's not safe out there!" Sarah said as Clementine walked into the kitchen. Within seconds, Clementine watched as Nick opened the side door to the house.

"Clementine!" Nick said with relief.

"Sarah!" Carlos said as Sarah rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him.

Luke walked in, followed by the others, "Clem, you know where Pete was, right? Come on, the two of us can go get him."

"A man was here." Sarah told her father.

"What?!" Carlos said as a look of relief was wiped off his face.

"Someone came to the cabin, and Clementine talked to him." Sarah said while staring at the floor.

"And you just let him inside!?" Rebecca exclaimed.

"Rebecca, calm down." Andrew said.

"Calm down? I am calm! You calm down!" She yelled back.

"I wasn't the one who left the front door unlocked. He just walked in, I didn't open the door." Clementine said defensively.

"She's telling the truth!" Sarah backed her up.

"Clementine, did he say his name? What did he say his name was."

"He said his name was George." Clementine shrugged.

"George?" Andrew said with a look of confusion on his face.

"That motherfucker..." Alvin muttered.

"That's what he said." Clementine said.

"Look, Clem, just tell us what he looked like. What did he sound like?" Luke asked.

"He had a brown coat with a fur collar. His voice was really gravely, deep and scratchy." Clementine told Carlos.

"He talked about you dad." Sarah said. "You aren't gonna hurt anyone, are you?"

"Of course he won't Sarah." Luke said. "Your dad's one of the smartest and kindest people I know, which is why he isn't going to do anything crazy or... not nice. Right?" Clementine saw Carlos glare at him for that remark.

"You know these are bad people sweetie. They will do say or do anything to hurt us." Carlos said as he put his hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"What did you think Clem? Do you think he's gonna be coming back here?" Luke asked.

"Definitely." Clementine responded. Nick started pacing back and forth next to the wall.

There was a brief moment of silence before Sarah pulled a picture out of her pocket. "He saw this," she said as she handed the picture Clementine took of her to her father.

"A picture!" Carlos exclaimed, "What were you doing taking pictures?"

"Look, I took the picture, it's my fault." Clementine said. _She did help me out, the least I can do is help her now._

"No, I asked her to take it. It's my fault."

"Sarah." Carlos sighed.

Andrew spoke up, "He must have been scouting. I don't think he was expecting to find us here, otherwise he wouldn't have gone alone."

"You're right. Clementine must have surprised him. If she hadn't been here..." Carlos said as he looked at his daughter. He shook his head as if he was trying to get rid off that train of thought. "Anyways, he was too smart to sticks around, but he'll be back with others. We don't have a choice, we have to leave."

"Yep." Luke said. "Everybody, pack up. Let's hit the road."

Clementine heard Alvin, Rebecca, and Andrew walk out of the room.

"Wait, what does he want?" Clementine asked Luke. As Carlos and Sarah walked out of the room.

"To bring us back." Luke said. "I don't know what he told you Clem, but William Carver is a dangerous man. He runs a camp not very far from here, and he's very very smart. We were lucky to get out of there. Trust me, know that he's seen ya, you'll be much safer with us than on your own."

"We've got to find Pete!" Nick stopped his pacing and stood next to Luke.

"We'll get find him on the way out. You know where he was, right Clem?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Nick, get your stuff. Clem, come with me." Luke walked into the living room as Clementine followed him.

"Andy filled me in that you had a gun this entire time." He said as he walked to the closet.

"Look I didn't-"

"Trust us? Yeah, well, considering that we threw you in a shed and forced you to stitch up your own arm, I don't really blame ya." Luke opened the closet and turned around.

"Were running low on ammo, but see if anything works for your gun in there."

"I've got an extra clip in my backpack. Let me grab it." Clementine ran up the stairs.

"Backpack?" Luke called

"I'll explain later." She said as she walked into the room she and Sarah were staying in. Nick was sitting on the bed, tying his boots. Clementine noticed a crossbow lying next to him on the bed, along with a couple of bolts.

"Hey Clem." He said.

"Hey." Clementine grabbed her backpack and ran back downstairs. Luke was picking up the deck of playing cards and placing a rubber band around them. She opened the closet, loaded both of her clips, and headed out the door with her backpack on and her grey G17 in hand. Luke came out shortly afterwards.

"We're all packed up."

"That was fast."

"We always made sure we where ready for something like this to happen. Anyways,  
you're the only one who knows where Pete is, so you lead the way."

"Got it." Clementine hopped over the railing of the porch, and heard Luke vault over after her. The rest of the cabin members walked down the steps, and followed after them.


	13. Open Roads

** Clementine: **

Even with the early afternoon sun beating down on them, it was chilly. _God, I wish I had a jacket right now._ Clementine thought as she walked on the small dirt road with the group.

"So, you said you and Pete were around here right?" Luke asked her.

"Yeah, it shouldn't be too far."

Clementine heard someone walk up next to her. "Hey, Clem?" Rebecca said.

_What do you want?_

"I just wanted to tell you that I know that I've been rough on you the past couple of days, and, well, I'm sorry. It's been tough with the pregnancy and everything else that's been going on."

 _It's about time._ "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"So, why is Carver after you?" Clementine asked.

"After me?!" Rebecca asked. After a moment, she calmed down, "Oh, you mean us. It's kinda complicated. He... he has a hard time letting go of things. Anyways, I know you did your best back their with Carver. None of us here could make it on our own. And now with the pregnancy, it's hard being so dependent on everyone."

 _Where was that truck..._ Clementine was only half listening to Rebecca at this point.

"I'm not used to that." Rebecca continued. "Hell, I'm not even okay with that. I'm gonna be a mom soon. I guess I need to work on my patience."

 _Ya think?_ Clementine wondered.

"Alvin and I still don't know what to call her, or him if Alvin manages to get his wish, God help me."

Clementine saw the truck and walked off the path.

"Any ideas? Clementine?"

"The truck's over here." Clementine said as she heard the rest of the group walk up behind her. Nick raised up to the truck and opened the door.

Nick looked inside the truck for a few seconds, "He's not in here."

"He might be around here somewhere." Andrew said.

"PETE!" Nick called out.

Clementine saw a trail of blood away from where she last saw Pete standing.

 _Oh no..._ Clementine followed the blood until what she had known all this time was proven beyond a doubt.

She grimaced as she saw Pete's lifeless body on the ground underneath another walker. Clementine heard everyone in the group slowly walking towards her. "Oh my God..." Nick said slowly.

Clementine felt her eyes water a bit as she looked at Pete. In the short time she knew him, he had saved her life twice. _He didn't deserve this._ She closed her eyes so her tears would remain unseen.

"What happened! What- what the hell happened to him!?" Nick was choking up a bit.

"He's been... shot." Andrew pointed out. Clementine opened her eyes and raised she had completely overlooked the bullet wound on the side of Pete's head, along with the hole in the side of the walker's head as well. Carlos knelt down next to the body and carefully opened one of Pete's eyes.

"He never turned." Carlos said while standing up and wiping the blood off his hand, referencing the fact that Pete's eyes still had color to them, and hadn't turned completely white.

"The only gun we had was a rifle, and he left it inside the gun. It was out of ammo." Clementine said as she turned around to ask Nick, but decided against it. Alvin walked over to the truck and checked inside.

"It's gone now."

"Either way, we have to leave."

Clementine turned away and walked back to the road. She turned around for a moment and saw Luke and Nick slowly following the rest of them.

* * *

** Luke: **

They walked for about an hour before Luke heard Nick break the silence. "Clem. Just tell me. Tell me how it happened."

"He talked about you. He wanted to say goodbye to you." Clementine said.

"...fuck..." Luke heard Nick choke up. He turned around and saw him start to shuffle, walking behind the rest of the group.

 _That poor fucking kid._ Luke thought to himself.

Clementine walked up next to him. "He saved my life."

Luke looked down at her, "Yeah, well... that's the type of man Pete was. He saved my life too, a couple of days after all of this started." Luke paused for a moment. "He was one of the finest men I ever met." Luke turned around to look back to Nick one more time. "I'm worried about that kid. We'll have to keep an eye on him."

Clementine nodded.

"So... Are you still gonna come with us? I mean... I know we got off to a rough start, and I can almost guarantee that things are gonna get rougher, but, we all know you now. If nothing else, we look after each other."

"I..." Clementine bit her lip for a moment. "Yeah, I'm with you guys. Besides, it's not like I have anywhere else to go."

"Well then, welcome to the group." Luke said a he pulled out a map of Virginia from his pocket. "By my guess, we're about four or five days away from those mountains. If we get up there, we should be able to loose Carver and his gang."

"Five days?" He heard Rebecca complain from the back of the group.

"It'll be alright Bec. It has been so far, right?"

_I probably shouldn't answer that._


	14. Treading On Embers

** Clementine: **

_I want you to promise me you'll watch out for Nick._

Pete's words echoed through her mind as she watched Nick stare blankly into the embers of the dying campfire with his back against a rock, and his legs bent in a way that almost put him into a fetal position. The rest of them should have had a harder time falling asleep than she did, considering they were used to beds, a roof over their heads, and a electric fence to keep them safe.

Nick hadn't even made the effort. His pack was off to his side, and he was holding his crossbow with the stock on the ground and the bolt pointing to the moonless night sky.

 _Might as well sit with him._ Clementine thought as she took off her blanket and walked over to him.

If Nick noticed her sit down beside him, he didn't show it.

"Hey." Clementine said softly.

Nick made no response.

"It's getting pretty late. Maybe you should get some sleep." Clementine suggested.

"You were with me the last time I saw him. That was one hell of a way to say goodbye, wasn't it." Nick said, glancing at her for a moment while fiddling with the loaded crossbow.

Clemente bit her lip as she remembered the argument that the two of them had right before Pete got bitten. "I remember. But he-"

"Told you how much he cared about me. Yeah I know." The bitterness in his voice was palpable. "The last memory I have with him is me being an ungrateful bastard."

Clementine watched as Nick let the crossbow fall against his legs with the bolt still pointing upwards.

"I had to kill my mom you know." Nick revealed. Clementine's eyes widened.

"Luke told you that the girl we brought back turned and killed my mom. Well, I was with her at the time. One moment she was there, smiling, the next her throat was out. And then within seconds, she was one of them." Nick paused.

"The only reason I brought the girl back was because I thought she was hot." He said with a bitter chuckle. "It's funny how that worked out."

"I..." Clementine hesitated before she decided how to begin. "My parents are still walkers. I saw them, but I was with a friend who was bit, and we were stuck in a heard of them. We didn't have any weapons, there was nothing we could do."

Nick looked over to her with a look of understanding few could really have.

"By the time I got a gun, my friend, Lee, told me to leave him behind. I was nine at the time. He didn't want me to have to stop him from turning."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I really am." He said as he accidentally let go of his crossbow. Nick's eyes widened as he saw his crossbow fall on top of the fire, putting out the last few dying embers. It was too dark to see anything now.

"You know what, fuck this." Nick said, "I'm gonna go to sleep. See you tomorrow Clem." Clementine heard Nick get up and walk away.

* * *

Clementine woke up to a boot on her shoulder. "Rise and shine kid." Nick looked exhausted, but happy. Clementine woke up and saw that everyone else was still asleep.

"I just wanted to say thanks for... Putting things into perspective last night." Nick said.

"All I did was talk to you." Clementine said as she got up and rubbed her shoulder."

"You did a lot more than that kid." Nick wasn't looking at her any more. She turned around and saw Nick's crossbow - now unloaded - resting next to his pack.

_Did he..._

Before she could say anything else, Nick was putting a foot on Carlos to wake him up.


	15. Pinecones

** Luke: **

It had been a long day of walking through forests and mostly uphill. _And to think it looked like such a short distance on that map._ Luke thought. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Andrew lift up his rifle.

"Andrew, didn't I already tell ya..." Luke turned to face Andrew who he now saw was aiming at a dog. What was going to be a reminder about noise turned into something else. "Oh no you fuckin' don't Andrew. Not over my dead body."

"What? Luke, you know we're low on food." Andrew replied. "Nick, toss me your crossbow, would ya'? We shouldn't risk the noise."

"And it's already gone." Alvin told them both.

"Damn it Luke..." Andrew said as he continued walking on. Everyone else moved along.

* * *

** Clementine: **

"What'd you do that for Luke?" Clementine asked him as they walked up a hill.

"We ain't killing dogs unless we absolutely have to. "

"Common Luke, what is it, the taste? I've eaten worse before." Andrew chimed in

 _No shit Andrew_. Clementine thought angrily. "Like what?", she said a bit more harshly than she should have.

"Well, skunk for one."

"Oh." Clementine said. _Thats not all, is it Andrew?_

"Well, I'd rather eat skunk than a dog. " Luke said.

Clementine rolled up her sleeve, showing her nasty scar, "I wouldn't."

"Yeah well... Okay, fine. Fair point there." Luke said. Andrew walked up and began a conversation with Carlos.

"So, Clem, what happened with Nick last night?"

"What?" _How does he know?_

"You guys woke me up for a bit. I heard him talking about his mom, which he never does. Ever. I was only half awake when it happened, so I don't really know the details."

The group had reached the top of the hill and continued on the mostly level ground. Clementine check to make sure Nick wasn't listening. "I think... I think he almost killed himself." Clementine said softly.

"Shit." Luke said quietly as his eyes widened. Clementine saw him turn around to look at Nick who was at the back of the group, talking to Rebecca and turned back around and shock his head sadly. "Nick's lost just about everything at this point. This isn't the first time he's been like this either. Anyways, thanks for being there for him last night."

"Yeah. I promised Pete I would watch out for him. At the time I was talking to Nick. I didn't realize what he was thinking about doing. I only figured it out in the morning when he thanked me."

"Well, consider your promise kept. I'll take over from here."

"Thanks."

* * *

"Alright everyone, I think we've made enough progress for the day. We break here." Luke said after quickly checking his map.

"Yeah. That sounds good." Rebecca said as she sat down on the nearest available stump.

Clementine watched as camp was set up. Andrew used the nearby trees to tie a rope around the camp, preventing lurkers from getting inside. Nick and Carlos were setting up a campfire. Alvin was taking care of Rebecca, Luke was scouting the nearby areas, and Sarah was setting up a chess board.

"Clementine, come over here!" Sarah called out from the other side of the camp. Clementine walked over to the teenage girl, knowing full well what she wanted. _Might as well play a round or two._

Clementine sat down on the opposite side of the chess board to Sarah when she noticed her cracked glasses. _It's worth checking._ She thought as she rummaged through her backpack.

"What are you getting?" Sarah asked.

"A present." Clementine said as she pulled the unbroken glasses out of her pack. "Do these work for you?" She asked.

Sarah grabbed them and put them on. "They're perfect! Where did you find them?!"

"I... " _Probably a bad idea to tell her about the people killed at the river._ "A dead lurker had them on. I cleaned them well, don't worry." She said, responding to the worried look on Sarah's face.

"These are amazing! Thanks Clem." She said with a smile.

"I also have 10 dollars, if that means anything to you."

"You keep it. Now, lets get to the game, shall we?" Sarah said.

* * *

"Checkmate." Sarah said triumphantly.

 _How is she so good at this considering everything else she does?_ It didn't make sense. Not even a little bit.

"Well, that's it for -" Clementine stopped talking as she felt something hit the back of her head. She turned around and saw Luke holding his machete on the other side of the camp."

"I'm honestly surprised that worked the first time." He said as he picked up a pinecone off the ground. Clementine picked up the pinecone and threw it back at Luke. He whacked it back at her with the flat end of his machete. She caught it and threw it back.

"You wanna have a try?" He asked, waving her over.

"Sure." She got up and walked over to him.

"Here you go." Luke said as he handed her the blade hilt first.

"This is heavier than it looks." Clementine said as she struggled to life the blade.

"Uh, Clem, in case you haven't noticed, you aren't exactly as old as I am." Luke said.

"Yeah, this is too heavy for me." Clementine admitted defeat and dropped the blade to the ground.

"Don't worry kid, you'll get stronger." He said as he picked up the blade.

Carlos called out to the rest of the group." Everyone, come over here! There is something we need to discuss."

Everyone walked over to Carlos who was now holding the map. "We didn't make it very far today." He said with a slight scowl on his face. "We should have someone on lookout, just in case Carver manages to find us." He looked around the group, "Any volunteers?"

 _Why not? I need to contribute somehow._ Clementine wasn't feeling that tiered anyways. "I'll stay up. I'm not tired."

"I'll keep her company." Andrew spoke up.

_Crap_

Carlos scowled for a moment. Luke spoke up, "Carlos." Carlos looked over to Luke who just nodded at him.

"Fine." Carlos begrudgingly said. "You two keep watch for the night. We leave right sunrise."

"You got it." Andrew said with a smile.

 _Well...shit._ Clementine swore in her head for the second time that day.

"Clem, you'll need these." Clementine turned around just in time to see the binoculars fly into her face. She saw Luke rush towards her as she fell down.

"Oh shit... Clem, you alright?" He said as he knelt down next to her And offered her a hand.

"Owwww." Clementine said as she rubbed her face. _Luke, you idiot._ She reached up and grabbed his hand as he pulled her up.

"Well, aren't you gonna say thank you?" Luke said.

Clementine glared at him.

"I'm sorry Clem." he said with a grin on his face.

"No you're not."

"Yeah. I have to admit that was pretty funny."

Clementine shook her head and walked away.


	16. And Now Their Watch Begins

**Clementine:**

"Still nothing?" Andrew asked from the opposite side of the camp, startling Clementine with the sound of his voice in the darkness

"Nothing." Clementine responded. It was a cloudless night, but there was only a crescent moon. And it was cold. One of the coldest nights she had ever known. The cold steel of her pistol pressed against her right palm was one of the few things keeping her awake.

Here she was, stuck in the middle of the forest with a group of strangers and a nightmare. Her mind flashed back to the night where the dairy farm was overrun. More than anything else, she remembered it being loud.

This night was the opposite. Nothing was making any noise. Other than the cracking of the campfire, the forest was as silent and dark as a crypt.

 _Does he know? If he did, he wouldn't have backed me up in the meeting. If he does know... does he care?_ He had a charming personality at first glance, but she would never forget seeing Mark crawl into the dining room with a trail of blood behind him.

 _Do I confront him? I've got a gun..._ She could at least defend herself if worst came to worse.

 _Do I kill him... No_. She remembered Lee's words after she confronted him about Dany _"You should never kill someone unless you absolutely have to."_ And right now, he didn't need to die. It wouldn't be self defense.

"Hey kid, if they ain't seen us now, they ain't finding us at all. At least not tonight."

Clementine had to agree with him. _They have to sleep too, right?_ She thought as she walked towards what was left of the campfire. By the time she got there, Andy was already sitting down on the other side, warming himself next I the embers.

 _The crossbow is out of his reach..._ Clementine noticed. He had borrowed Nick's crossbow while he was on watch in case he had to deal with any lurkers. Andrew was also looking away from the fire.

"I know about the dairy!" She blurted out before she knew she would chicken out _I have to know what happened._

"What?" Andrew said as his eyes widened as Clementine lifted her pistol and aimed at his chest.

"Don't grab it." She said looking at the crossbow just out of his reach. He got the message. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins, and the tension in the air could be cut with a knife. Andrew stared at her from across the dying fire for a couple of seconds. Then he chuckled bitterly.

"When I first saw you, I thought that damn hat of yours looked familiar." He sighed, "I guess now I know why that is."

"I was with Lee and the others." She said, keeping the gun focused on his chest.

He stared down at the fire. "In a way, I owe that man my life. I'll always hate him, but I have to thank him..." He looked back up at the young girl., "I'm gonna guess you wanna know what happened. How I ended all the way up here."

"Something like that."

"We set up the fence with the help of a bunch of the people who worked on the farm before everything started. Their weren't many left, after the first few days, and my father was one of the ones killed." Clementine could make out that his eyes were watering. "My father was the best man I ever knew. Beyond a shadow of a doubt. If he'd been alive... hell, we might have wound up joining you guys."

Andrew paused for a moment to wipe his eyes with his hand. Clementine kept the gun raised.

"Anyways, things were okay for about two weeks. Them this gang showed up. They were the assholes who shot your friend... Michael?"

"Mark."

"Yeah, well, they rounded all of us up and told us we had to give them food, or else. Dumb fuckers expected us to have lots of food. Bread, fruits, vegetables... meat. We told them that we were a dairy, with just one cow left due to those shambling freaks. They killed one of our guys to show us who was in charge. We agreed to give them food."

"Let me guess." Clementine interrupted him, remembering that only his family was left on the farm when she got their, "You decided to give them your farm hands."

" _Dany_ gave em the last couple of farm hands we had left." By the time me and Mama found out, she quickly realized that we had no choice. They converted me after awhile too. I didn't have a choice."

"You could have just left!" Clementine said bitterly.

"Clem, they were family. That don't make what I did right, but I wasn't with random folks. These people were blood. Family's the only thing that matters in this fucked up world."

"My family's dead." Clementine said.

"Well, kid, that makes two of us." Andrew said. "Do you know I wound up having to kill my mom? And my brother, Dany? They both turned, I had to be the one to do it."

"How many people did you kill?" Clementine asked him. "How many families did you destroy?"

Andy just stared at the ground. "Too many." He looked back up at her, "Do you want to hear the rest of the story, or not."

"I have the gun. Talk." She said humorlessly.

"Okay, okay. Anyways, after I shot Dany I just... ran. I left the farm, and stumbled across a car with some keys and gas in it."

 _Don't tell me he came across the stationwagon...'_ "What color was it?"

"Red. Does it really matter?" Andy asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Just making sure of something. Go on."

"Anyways, I drove north until I ran out of gas. Then I walked. To be honest, I must have been a complete wreck when Carlos found me. It was just him and his daughter then, and it don't know why he didn't just leave me. I would have, with a girl like that to protect. I was being chased by a couple of lurkers, and I passed out. Next thing I know, I wake up in a

bed with someone standing over me."

"Wait, you didn't get the shed treatment from him?" Clementine asked. The two of them both laughed, in spite of the situation.

"No, no he did not. Regardless, here we are now."

"I'm guessing you stopped eating people."

"I did. You know, when I was lying in the mud, back at the farm, after your friend was done beating the shit out of me, I wanted to die. I was hoping that you're friend would pick up his rifle and put a bullet in me. I don't know why he didn't."

"I think I do..."

* * *

_"You get it now, dontcha'? You can have me! You give part of yourself so that others can live!" Dany said to Lee in his voice that gave her chills. His foot was in a bear trap, chained to a grate on the floor._

_"Mark never wanted to be food! I should kill you right now!"  
_

_"You ain't got what it takes boy! Just like you couldn't kill that woman in the woods! You're just a fucking cow- AHHH."_

_Before Clementine could ask what Dany was talking about, the pitchfork was driven through his chest._

* * *

Clementine looked up and saw a tear in Andy's eye. While she couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for Andy or his dead brother, she knew all too well what it was like to loose someone you care about.

"So, I guess I oughta thank you for saving my life then." Andrew said.

"I guess so."

"Anyways, I know why you're friend let me live now. I didn't deserve to live. The whole time I was doing it, I knew it was wrong. I can never take that back. But I can say I've saved the lives of everyone in this group", he gestured to everyone sleeping in their camp, "at least once. Not even including how things would have gone for us if I hadn't set up that fence. I don't know what role I'm gonna play in this world now, and I don't know if I can ever... redeem my actions, but I can try. That's reason enough for me to keep on living."

"That's all?"

"Yeah. That's everything."

They both were silent for a minute until Clementine lowered her gun. "Okay. That's good enough for me. I know Lee didn't kill you, so neither will I."

"And because you're as good as dead if you kill me."

 _Yeah... that too._ "Well, night."

"Night."

Clem walked over to the opposite side of the camp. Much to her surprise, she didn't dream about the farm.


	17. Warn Out Places

**Luke:**

Luke dragged dead lurker out of the small cabin off the back porch. 'And down you go.' He thought to himself as rolled the body down the steep hill.

The cabin wasn't that large, more of a glorified shack. It was made of dark wood - _Probably half rotten -_ and was about half the size of the old cabin, but it did have two floors. It was placed out on top of a large hill smack in the middle of nowhere. _Most likely made by some idiot made it who thought it would be such great fun to live off the grid._ He thought bitterly, remembering all the comforts he had lost since the plague.

He looked to the west and saw the sunset. _Damn, that is beautiful._ The sun looked like it was below the hill, just sinking into the tree line on the horizon. He just stood there watching for minutes. _Now_ _this here is why I think there just might be a God after all._ He thought with a chuckle as he walked back to the shack.

The stairs to the front porch creaked loudly as he walked inside through the back porch. Clem was sitting in a wooden chair with her legs folded up against her chest, staring out the window towards the sunset. Nick was sound asleep on the floor, and Carlos was reading a book at a small coffee table next to the staircase. There was an actual oil burning lamp hanging on a nail, providing some light.

"Where's Sarah?" He asked.

"Upstairs. She's asleep, along with everyone's else but than the three of us." He put down his book. "Clem, you were on watch last night. Get some sleep. Luke's not gonna carry you tomorrow."

"Yeah..." Clementine yawned as she stood up. "I think I'm gonna do that." She walked over to the couch. She flopped down, and was hidden from his view.

 _I shouldn't have let'er stay up on watch last night._ He shook his head. _Well, at least she gets to sleep on something other than the hard floor._

"So, what ya reading?" Luke walked over to the table and sat across from Carlos. Carlos lifted up the book from the table, and Luke grinned as he saw the title. "A Game of Thrones? I've read that. Great book but... Well, I ain't gonna spoil it for ya." Luke reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards "Wanna play a round of poker? I'm gonna sleep soon, but I haven't played since we left the cabin."

"I know how to play." Clementine sat up. "My friend Omid taught me."

"Yeah, sure... But just one round, okay? You really need to get to sleep, you look exhausted kid.

* * *

After five rounds, the two of them were out of used bullet casings, used as stand in for chips. Clem had wiped them clean with a full house. "Son of a bitch." Luke muttered. 'She's better than Pete.' He couldn't say that about most people. He still missed that old man.

"Go to bed now Clem." Carlos said.

"You don't need to tell me that." Clem said as she got up. "Good game, by the way." She yawned and walked over to the couch. Both Carlos and Luke were quite for a minute until they heard her sleeping.

"Well, if nothing else, she doesn't snore." Luke said.

"More than can be said for you." Carlos commented.

"I sleep through it just fine." The two of them laughed.

"Well, if you don't mind, I'm gonna get back to the book." Carlos said as he picked up his copy of A Game of Thrones.

"Don't stay up all night. Trust me, that book is addicting. I stayed up all night finishing it, and would up failing an exam."

"I can see you doing that."

"Anyways, I never thought you would enjoy fantasy. Didn't strike me as that type."

"A coworker suggested it to me a week before everything happened. Her name was..." Carlos rubbed his hand through his hair, "Lizzy. Her name was Lizzy."

"What happened to her?"

"I saw her get surrounded as I was fleeing the hospital. There were so many of them..." Carlos closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Carlos said. "Anyways, back to the book, of you don't mind."

"Go right ahead pal." Luke said as he picked up the cards and placed them back in his pocket.

Luke walked over to the back door and lied down next to it, with his back to the wall. The cold air felt good against his back. He was asleep within seconds.


	18. For What We've Done

**Luke:**

_No!_

As inelegant as it was, that's all he thought as he ran through the forest, his machete in his left hand, and his pistol in his right. The sound of gunfire coming from his destination was for once a reassurance as he began hacking into the small horde ahead of him.

It had been too good an opportunity to pass up. In Andy's shoes, he would have done the same damn thing. The buck was just standing there, about 30 yards aways, and they had been low on food for days. A single round to the head had taken it down. Nick, Clem and Andy had gone over to check it.

That's when they came.

Clementine had messed up a bit then, taking out the first one with her pistol. He made out that much. Before anyone could do a thing, there were dozens of lurkers that had been hidden in the tree line.

 _Just hold on guys!_ He thought as he wasted three rounds before finally taking one of them down. Luke continued to plow ahead as the gunfire grew more frantic.

* * *

**Clementine:**

_Oh shit!_

In spite of all the noise around her, the small "click" from her gun was deafening. "I'm out!" She cried out to Andrew, who was behind her to her right, slowly backing away from the horde as he fired his rifle. Nick was a far way off from the two of them, taking out a slightly smaller group with his crossbow.

One of the lurkers was starting to reach down at her as she saw Andrew's right fist punch it in the face. Before she knew what was going on, Andrew was in front of her, pushing her back with one arm.

"Get the fuck outta here kid! NOW!" Clementine took his advice and ran over to Nick, who was killing the last lurker in his group.

"Clem, get down!" She heard Carlos call out. In the midst of the horde, she hadn't noticed that Carlos and Alvin had run over to help Nick. Clementine dropped to the floor as the two of them unleashed a barrage of bullets into the horde. She heard Luke yelling as he was (hopefully) cutting down another lurker.

"Come on kid, get on up." Clementine heard moments later. She looked up and saw Alvin's hand reach down to her. Grabbing his hand, she lifted herself up and dusted herself off.

"Everybody clean?" Carlos asked anxiously.

"I'm fine." Luke called out as he implanted his sword into the back of the last lurker's skull.

Everyone else called out they were fine. Except for Andrew.

"FUCK!" He called out. He was holding a handkerchief soaked in blood, and his right hand had a small amount of blood coming out of the middle of his pinky finger.

 _When he punched that walker, he must have..._ Clementine's eyes widened as she realized that Andrew St. John, the cannibal who had been a source of her nightmares ever since the farm, had saved her life at the cost of his own.

"Tell me that's not..." Luke said as he walked over to him while sheathing his blood soaked machete and holstering his pistol.

"It fucking is!" Andrew lashed out at Luke.

Clementine saw Carlos quickly walk over to Andy as he pulled something out of his pocket. "Show it to me, now."

* * *

** Luke: **

"Here it fucking is!" Andrew raised up his pinky finger as if he was flipping Carlos off.

 _What a way to go-_ Luke's thoughts stopped as Carlos opened up his switch blade, grabbed Andrew's hand, and cut off the bitten finger. Any sound of objection from the group didn't make it through Andrew's howl of pain. He sunk to his knees as he clutched his right hand, staring at his finger that was now lying on the ground.

Carlos took off his pack, reached inside, and pulled out bandages and some hydrogen peroxide. Within a minute, Andrew's hand was bandaged up.

Carlos stood up and pulled Andrew to his feet by the collar of his shirt. Any noise from Andrew at this point was just whimpering. "Luke, remember that logging camp you mentioned? Which way is it?"

"Ummm..." Luke pulled the map out of his back pocket. He took three seconds to reorient himself. "About 15 minuets walk. That way" Luke pointed in the direction of the camp.

"Good. Everyone, follow me! We don't have much time!" Carlos broke into a slow jog as Luke put the map back in his pocket. He turned around for a moment, and was grateful that everyone, even Andrew, was still able to follow him.

* * *

** Clementine: **

"So... what do we do now?" Nick asked. The entire group, with the exception of Sarah who was already asleep, was sitting in a circle on the floor of the small shed that likely served as a managers office for the logging camp. The only light int the room came from Luke's flashlight that he had duck taped to the ceiling.

They had arrived their hours ago, and miraculously, there wasn't a single lurker inside the fence surrounding the camp.

Rebecca, who was sitting on a chair, spoke up "I noticed a... machine of some kind. Some sort of crane thing, I don't know. It had room for one person in it. Maybe you should spend the night there."

"You didn't even want to give me that much when I met you guys." Clementine mumbled under her breath.

Luke was sitting next to her. "Clem, not the time." He whispered.

 _He's right._ Clementine let it go.

"I agree, that makes the most sense. I've done everything I can." Carlos said. "If you don't have a staggering fever by the morning, you'll live."

"So... I guess I'm getting locked in the "shed". " Clementine chucked at that. Nobody joined her.

"Yeah... well, there nothing else we can do, right?" Alvin said.

"No. There isn't." Carlos said.

There was a moment of silence before Andrew stood up, "Well, were can I find this crane?"

Luke got up and pulled his flashlight off the roof. "I know what Rebecca was talkin' about. Follow me."

Clementine sat in the darkness, unsure of how she wanted Andrew's bite to turn out

* * *

**Luke:**

"Well, here it is." Luke said.

"Yeah..." Andrew said.

"Listen man. I'm not bullshitting you here. I think yer gonna make it." Luke placed his hand on Andrew's shoulder.

"Ya think so?" Andrew said

"Yep."

"Well,I hope you're right about this." Andrew looked at Luke for a moment before he turned around, walked up the stairs to the backhoe cockpit. Luke walked away to the sound of the door closing.


	19. Slow Recovery

**Luke:**

_Well... Just get this over with Luke._

Luke was standing in front of the door to the backhoe with Carlos just beside him. Andy was asleep probably, but he looked pale. The early morning light didn't help him make out any details about Andy's sleeping figure. His machete was in his hand. He raised it up, and smacked the side of the door with the back of the blade.

Andy woke with a start, startling Luke as he fell back down the stairs leading up to the door. "Sorry for scaring ya like that." He said as he opened the door to the vehicle and walked down the stairs. As soon as he was on solid gound, Carlos placed his head on his forehead. Luke could see a small amount of sweat dripping down his face as he got up from the ground.

"You feel warm... but not as much as you should be by now if it didn't work." Carlos said. "How do you feel?"

"Well, I've felt better. On the other hand, I actually have felt worse. I think it worked doc." He said with a smile, followed by a yawn, causing him to cover his mouth with his bandaged right hand.

"It's too soon to tell. " Carlos said. "But I think you're right. We can't stop moving today, for all we know they could be right behind us. You can walk, right?"

"If we take it slow, yeah."

 _I don't know how much slower we can take it._ Luke thought. They should have reached the mountains yesterday. The barrage of gunfire from yesterday couldn't have helped them get away from their enemies. "I'll go let everyone know we gotta move." Luke said as he walked back towards the building.

 _We have to get into the mountain range today._ He thought to himself. Just before he reached the door, Clementine walked out.

"Good Morning Clem." Luke forced himself to brighten up for her sake. Just because he was pessimistic doesn't mean everyone else should be. "It looks like Andy's gonna make it."

"Well... that's good." She said with a smile that looked incredibly forced. _What in the hell was that about?_ He wondered as he stood in front of the door. He turned around to look for Clem, but she was already gone somewhere. _Im probably just imagining it._ He dismissed the thought as he walked inside and relayed the news to everyone else.

* * *

** Clementine: **

"Can we stop for a bit?" Andy said. Clementine turned around and saw he was sweating, in spite of the cold weather. This was the fourth time he had asked. The group had agreed all three times before, and nobody had objected. That pattern didn't change as everybody sat down, the fading sunlight resting on their faces. Clementine slouched down against the side of a tree, stump, and dropped her backpack on the ground.

 _He saved my life._ That thought had been running through Clementine's head over and over through the whole day. She still wasn't sure how she felt about Andrew's current condition. _I guess he's earned a second chance._ Lee had killed someone, for a better reason than most had, but not a good one. That was still more then Andrew had ever had. _I had better just get used to him being here. I can't tell the group. It's like he said, they would never believe me._

"Hey Clem?" Luke called over to her. " You still got those binoculars?"

"The ones you threw at my face? Yeah." She still had a small bruise on her forehead from that incident a few days ago."

"Yeah... those ones. Anyways, mind takin' a lookout? Maybe you can see if their are any buildings nearby."

"Got it." Clementine said as she pulled the binoculars out of her backpack. She climbed up on to the boulder on the other side of the camp, and as able to see the bridge.

"I can see the bridge you were talking about."

"Wait, really?" Luke asked with some surprise in his voice. "I coulda sworn it was a bit farther off..."

"Does it look passable?" Carlos asked.

"I think so. It's hard to tell from here."

"Do you see anything else?" Carlos asked.

"There's a little house right on the other side of the lake."

"How big is it."

"Its..." Clementine grinned as an idea came to her. "Its enormous Carlos. The little house by the bridge is huge." She heard Luke chuckling behind her, followed by as small growl from Carlos. Clementine continued to search the mountains and spotted a ski lift. "There's some sort of lift on the mountainside."

"If it's near the bridge, it's probably the ski resort." Luke said.

"I never got a chance to go skiing before everything happened."

"Bec and I went once." Alvin said.

"You call what we did skiing? All we did was fall down a slope and make fools of ourselves." Rebecca said.

"If that's the ski lift, then that building next to it might be a ski resort. It's huge."

"Maybe we could spend the night there." Clementine could tell that Luke was forming up a plan. She jumped off the boulder and turned back towards the group.

"We've got to cross that bridge. Come on, lets go." She saw Carlos pick up his pack.

"Hold on a minute. Carlos, I need to talk to you. Clem, you come too." Clem walked over to where the two older men were meeting.

"We can't all go run across the bridge. If we get spotted out there, we're fucked."

"We don't have the time to go around that lake."

"Yeah, I know. I'll just sneak across with Clem, make sure it's clear, then we'll single you guys. signal that it's okay for you guys to run on over."

"You want to split up the group? The last time we did that, Andrew got bitten. And you want to bring Clementine she's just a girl Luke." Clementine remembered how she, Andrew, and Nick had gone to check out the dear, and then the horde of lurkers came.

"Yeah, well look at our group now." Luke replied "Alvin's got to look out for Rebecca, and you can't get the man five feet away from her before he starts worrying. In his position, I'd probably be more nervous than he is. Rebecca is pregnant, Nick's a wreck, Andrew might be dead in less than a day, and you know why you've got to look out for Sarah."

Clementine could tell that had struck a cord with Carlos. "Fine. But she comes back here after any sign of trouble, okay?"

"I can handle it." She might not be able to pull as much weight as everyone else, but she was still useful.

"Remember how she stitched up her own arm? We're gonna be fine." Luke turned to face her. "Get your hammer kid. We're heading out."

Clementine saw Nick get up. "Luke I heard you back there, if anything happens out there I'll cover you."

"Uh... Good. Thanks." Luke replied. Clementine grabbed her hammer and followed him out of the camp.


	20. Neckshot

**Luke:**

Luke looked down at the young girl as the made their way to the bridge. "Hey, kid, sorry about dragging you along here, but I need the help. Andy's not in much shape to do anything, Nick's a wreck, Carlos has to watch out for Sarah, and Alvin's looking out for his wife. That leaves you."

"Its okay. I can handle it." Clementine said confidently.

"Well, you won't have to handle it for long. Carlos thinks that if Andy was gonna kick the bucket, he woulda done it already."

"Oh, well... thats good."

 _There it is again._ Luke thought to himself.

"Luke, I've been meaning to ask you... why is Carver still following us?"

 _How to put this..._ "What's the most important thing in this world?"

"Wouldn't that you depend on who you ask?"

"In that case, what do you think matters most to Carver?"

"Safety?"

"Kinda. Think about it. What's the one thing that we've got that Carver, or any man really, would even consider walking hundreds of miles to get back?"

Clementine thought for a moment before answering, "Family?"

"Bingo. It's a tough world out here with out people you can trust, and I can't imagine going through this without having someone to care about." He saw the lingering confusion in the young girl's eyes. "Look... You can ask Rebecca, I don't want to get in the middle of this." He saw Clem's eyes widen with understanding.

"We've all made mistakes, ya know. Done things we've regret. It wouldn't be right for to go talking about someone else's past. I've got more than enough splinters in my own eye, so to speak.

"I know what that's like." She said in the same sad tone she used when she poured out to him on the couch less than a week ago. How she blamed herself for the deaths of so many people.

"Yeah." Luke said sadly.

They were at the bridge now, the sunset light casting everything in a pale shade of orange light. the bridge looked passable, but still looked fairly ragged. _This bridge has probably gotten more traffic since the plague than it got in the past 15 years._

There were two lurkers in front of the bridge, one that was torn in half and "sitting" up against a rock, and the other was just standing there. "Come on, get down." Luke said as he motioned towards a rock that the two of them could hide behind.

"Two of us, two of them. We can't use guns." He looked down at the young girl, "what do you think."

"Lets take 'em." Luke saw her smile from the moment he asked her for an opinion.

"I like the way you think kid." He pulled out his machete and pointed." I'll take the big one, you get shorty. You've got your hammer, right?"

"Yep."

Good, lets go.

Luke creeped up to the lurker in front of him, who was blissfully unaware of it's fate. He had done this thousands of times. Once he was in range. He swung his blade right down the center of the monster's skull, killing it instantly.

He looked over to his left towards his young ward and saw her trying to pull her hammer out of the short one's skull. "Just keep on pulling, it'll come free."

"I know, I've done this before. Remember? In a shed?"

Luke frowned at the memory. _I'd probably have taken the whole ordeal with a lot less grace then she has._

After a couple of moments, she managed to pull the hammer free. "Nice job Clem." He said as he reached down for her to give her a high five. _We must look ridiculous_ , he thought to himself, _I'm soaked in blood and I want this little girl to give me a high five._

She gave him the high five regardless. "Good work Kid. Come on, lets get moving." The two of them walked side by side down the bridge.

* * *

"You see him?" He asked Clementine as the hooded man walked down the bridge. He looked like he had some sort of rifle with him.

"Yeah."

Luke out his hand next to his holstered gun. "Just play it cool. And you're doing the talking."

"I don't want to get into a fight. Do you really think he'd kill a little girl like you?"

"He wouldn't be the first to try." _Good point._

"Well, you'll be fine. If he tries anything, I'll just shoot him first. Just don'to make any sudden moves. And don't piss him off.

"Luke, maybe you should do the talking. This is dumb."

"Yep. I'll do the talking. You just try to look adorable."

The man on the other side of the bridge started talking, "Well, who are you guys?"

"I'm Luke. The girl's name is Clementine."

"Luke and Clementine." The man seemed to think about there names before coming a bit closer. "Well, you don't look like assholes. Are you assholes? I'm not trying to be rude, but you know how things are out here... you meet lots of assholes."

"We're just people. We're kinda lost." Luke said.

"Let me guess:" the man said as he walked up to a close distance to the two of them "You're heading north, just like everyone else?"

"Everyone else?"

"I usually see about one group a day come this way."

"Have you seen a man named Omid?" Clementine spoke up? "He would have come this way sometime recently?"

"Omid? I can't say that I have. Sorry." The man turned to face Luke again, "Look, the two of you look like shit. If you need food, I've got some spare stuff in the station over on the other side"

 _Is that so? That sounds awfully convenient of you. "_ Thats nice of you. What's the catch?" He asked harshly.

"No catch. I've got more than enough left over."

 _I'll play along for now._ "Well alright then. Thanks." He forced himself to smile in spite of the bad feeling he had in his stomach.

"No problem. After I get you guys some food, you're welcome to come..." Luke saw the man squint his eyes. "What the hell man?"

Luke turned around and saw Nick sprinting across the bridge. "What the hell is he doing?" His question was answered when he saw nick lift up his crossbow at the stranger. Within moments, the stranger had lifted up his rifle.

Luke lifted his hands "No, no, no! He's with us, don't shoot!" he turned around to face his friend, "NICK, DON'T!"

"Don't shoot!" the girl cried out.

Luke grabbed Clementine's shoulder and forced her to the ground, and hit the floor. When he looked up, he saw a crossbow bolt sticking out of the man's neck. He lifted up his rifle, fired a single shot somewhere in Nick's direction, and stumbled off the bridge.

 


End file.
